Please Just Say It
by purplekeys
Summary: Freshmen in college, Nathan and Haley were looking forward to their first year at Duke University. That is, until they saw each other.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Hey guys! I know I have been gone for ages and I actually have written updates for my other story "Maybe" but just haven't gotten around to posting them so I will try to do so soon. I know the last thing I should be doing is starting another one but this story just came to me so I hope you like it.**

**Summary:** Freshmen in college, Nathan, Lucas, Brooke, Peyton and Haley are looking forward to their first year at Duke University. But when old problems arise and two former lovers have turned into the most brutal of enemies, it looks like the gang are going to have a little trouble.

Running as fast as she could, Brooke sprinted towards the public pin up board centred in the middle of the Duke campus. Her rich brown hair whipping ferociously in her face as she ran, this one of those rare times in Brooke Davis' life where she didn't care what it looked like. All she cared about was seeing that board. When she finally reached it, she came to a sudden stop and pushed her way past every person in front of the notice board without bothering to notice the dirty looks she was receiving. She even pushed the seniors, who she looked up to as if they were angels at her freshman status. She eagerly searched the board until her eyes landed on the sheet she was looking for and she read the names down the list.

"YES!" Brooke screamed in utter delight and excitement. Without thinking, she snatched the piece of paper off the board and sprinted off in the opposite direction.

Peyton cast her eyes over her new college dorm, nodding her head in approval as she looked around. Since she had gotten here last week, she hadn't really taken the time to appreciate the dorm she'd been assigned. It had a small living room that had recently been fitted with a couch, TV and mini fridge - all the essentials for college life. Coming off the side of the living room was a bathroom and three small bedrooms. One for herself and the other two for her two best friends in the entire world. She couldn't believe their luck that they had all been assigned the same dorm. They had applied for it but none of them thought it would actually happen.

Peyton sat herself down on the couch with a smile on her face. College looked like it might not be so bad after all. Just as Peyton sat down, Haley came out of the bathroom.

"I finally managed to fit all my stuff into the bathroom." Haley said as she sat down next to Peyton. "I should have known to get in there before Brooke, she took practically every shelf!"

Peyton laughed. "Yeah, you're just lucky I'm not big on makeup and hair products or else we'd have a real problem."

Haley smiled, snuggling herself down into the couch. "God, this couch is so comfortable. Did you get this?"

"No, Brooke did." Peyton laughed.

"Oh," Haley said. "Guess she's good for some things!"

At that exact moment, Brooke came flying through the door squealing at the top of her lungs.

"Do you think we spoke to soon?" Peyton said, turning her head to look at Haley. Haley gave her an amused smile back before turning to Brooke.

"What? What is it?"

"We _all _got in to the cheer squad!" Brooke said in a pitch so high it was almost inaudible. She waved the white sheet of paper in the air before dropping in Peyton's lap.

"Oh, the joy." Peyton said sarcastically.

Completely ignoring Peyton, Brooke went on squealing.

"This is so amazing. I mean, it is rare for freshmen to even get in but all three of us!" She said jumping up and down causing Haley to laugh. "I knew it! They took one look at us and knew that we were just too good to say no to. Or we were too hot to say no too. Or too good AND too hot to say no to!"

Haley and Peyton just laughed at Brooke, not even bothering to try and get a word in before she was finished celebrating.

"Whichever it was, who cares! We are Duke Blue Devils!" Brooke started clapping her hands then proceeded to dance around the living room.

"When does practise start?" Haley asked.

"I don't know, does it day on the sheet?" Brooke asked, looking towards the piece of paper in Peyton's hands. "Oh, shit! I don't think I was supposed to take that."

"What? What do you mean?" Peyton asked. "Where did you get it from?"

"Uhh, from the notice board.." Brooke trailed off.

"Brooke!" Haley said, laughing.

"Sorry!" Brooke exclaimed. "I was too excited and didn't think." The smile returned to Brooke's face before she spoke again. "I'll go put it back."

Brooke grabbed the piece of paper out of Peyton's hands and left the room in the same fashion that she entered it.

"You know, I don't think I'm going to need to drink coffee this year." Haley said. "Brooke's got enough energy for all three of us."

"Yeah," Peyton replied. "Or you'll need three times as much as you usually do just to keep up with her."

Haley's face dropped. "Oh, God."

Peyton laughed at Haley's expression. "Come on, let's walk to the cafeteria. I'm starving and we'll just text Brooke to meet us there."

Haley nodded and the two left the room.

Lucas lay on his mattress in his dorm room, spinning a basketball on his finger. He was yet to set up his bed. As he looked around, he realised he was yet to setup anything. _Good start to college, Luke_ he said to himself. There was a dismantled couch in the living room which he presumed belonged to Nathan. He and his brother had arrived to the college together a few days ago and had taken what they thought to be the two best rooms in the dorm for themselves. There was one spare room and the boys were yet to meet the guy who was supposed to be staying there. Lucas her the sound of the front door clicking and got up off his mattress. Expecting to see Nathan, he grabbed a soft toy basketball off his desk and threw it at the doorway as he entered the living room.

"Woah," said a dark haired guy who had just been hit in the face with the toy basketball. "Is that how you greet everyone when you first meet them or should I get used to entering the place like this?"

Lucas' eyes widened. "Shit, sorry. I thought you were my brother."

"Brother?" The guy asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," Lucas said. "Uh, we both live in these two rooms here. I'm presuming you're our third guy?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. Nick Stafford." The boy said, dropping the suitcase he was holding in his hand to shake Lucas' hand.

"Lucas Scott." Said shaking Nick's hand. "Sorry again about that."

Nick laughed. "No problem. Would you mind just grabbing that bag for me by the door?"

Lucas saw the black bag waiting in the doorway. "Yeah sure."

"So, I'm sharing a dorm with two brothers. Can't say I was expecting that, should be an interesting year. Hope I don't mix you guys up." Nick said as he dumped his bags in the spare room.

"Huh, I don't think you'll have a problem there." Lucas replied just as Nathan stumbled into the room.

"Where've you been?" Lucas asked.

"Went to find some food." Nathan said, picking up the toy basketball and chucking it at Lucas. "We have absolutely nothing here!"

Nathan then noticed Nick. "Oh, sorry. Hi."

"Hi," Nick replied.

"Right, uhh Nathan this is Nick." Lucas said, introducing them. "He's our third guy."

"Ohh, we've been wondering when you'd show up." Nathan said, shaking his hand. "Good to meet you man, thank god you're not a freak."

Nick laughed. "You know I've got to say, for twins you guys don't really look alike at all."

Lucas and Nathan looked at each other then started laughing.

"We're not twins." Lucas said, causing Nick to frown.

"Long story." Nathan said. "Basically we have two different mom's and one asshole for a dad who clearly didn't pay enough attention in sex ed."

Nick's eyes widened and he nodded. "Right."

"Don't get too freaked out, we're not that strange really." Lucas reassured him. "Wanna take a look around campus?"

"Yeah, sure." Nick replied. "I'll just get changed."

When Nick left the room, Nathan turned to Lucas. "He seems alright."

"Yeah, he does."

"Okay, just gonna change my shirt." Nathan said and walked into his room.

On their way to the cafeteria, Haley got a call from Brooke telling her and Peyton that they had to pick up their cheer uniforms.

"Already?" Peyton asked when Haley hung up the phone.

"Yeah, I know." Haley replied. "Brooke said that practise starts in two days and when she went to give the sheet back Jessica, the head cheerleader, was waiting there and told her to take the uniforms now so we are ready."

"Two days? Gosh, they get into the cheering here."

"Guess so." Haley said.

The two girls made their way over to the girls locker rooms where Brooke was waiting for them with the uniforms in her hand.

Brooke squealed when she saw them. "Here!" She said handing them each one. "Put them on now, that way when we walk to the cafeteria people will know instantly that we are cheerleaders and we'll make a permanent indentation in their minds of how they should treat us."

"Brooke!" Haley reprimanded, although she couldn't help but smile."You know that's not what cheerleading is about."

"I know, I know. But it is definitely a perk!"

The three girls got changed and put their other clothes into Brooke's gym bag before heading off to the cafeteria.

"...yeah and this is the library." Lucas said to Nick, showing him around.

"That's where the library is?" Nathan asked with a confused look on his face. "I could've sworn it was on the other side of campus."

"Clearly some of us get more use out of it than others." Lucas said to Nick.

Nathan just shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. Down the corridor is the gym, the most important aspect of the school anyway."

"Can't argue with that." Lucas said.

"You're gonna be watching us annihilate all the other varsity teams on that basketball court this year, Nick." Nathan said smugly.

"Watching?" Nick asked. "No way, man. I'm going to be playing."

"You play ball?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, all through high school." Nick replied.

"Liking you more and more, Nick." Lucas said.

"Come on, let's walk up there then." Nathan said trying to hurry the other two along.

The girls walked out of the locker rooms then exited the door of gym. The cafeteria was between the library and the gym in this corridor.

"All I can say is, we look smoking in these uniforms." Brooke said.

Haley and Peyton had refused to wear the entire outfit, so Brooke settled for the three of them wearing the Blue Devils tops with the black Duke tracksuit pants on the bottom.

Peyton rolled her eyes at Brooke. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get some food before I faint."

The girls began to talk aimlessly as they made their way to the cafeteria, not really taking in their surroundings.

The three boys, Nathan, Lucas and Nick were walking up the opposite direction of the corridor discussing their high school basketball teams.

"We made it to the semi finals when I was a junior but got beat out by Westlake." Nick was telling the two Scott brothers. "It was pretty disappointing but I had a great time with my team."

"That's too bad man." Nathan replied.

"We actually made it to the state championship last year..." Lucas began to explain but trailed off when he realised who they were about to bump into.

Nathan frowned as Lucas stopped talking and looked to see what had made them stop moving. When he saw the three girls who were standing in front of him, one in particular, laughing aimlessly his eyes went cold and his fists clenched.

Haley, Peyton and Brooke were in fits of laughter as they walked down the corridor, unable to contain their excitement. Peyton looked ahead momentarily to see how close they were to the cafeteria and stopped dead in her tracks. Brooke and Haley stopped with her and looked ahead questioningly. Haley felt her heart stop and the anger rise within her as she saw his face. Standing in a line were Lucas, Nathan and some random guy on the end Haley had never seen before. Haley was standing directly in front of Nathan, barely a foot away, with Brooke and Peyton either side of her.

Haley and Nathan stared at each other with looks of death as the other four awkwardly stood there unsure of what to do. At the same time, Nathan stepped aside as Haley began to push past him without saying a word. Brooke and Peyton gave Lucas and Nick uneasy smiles as they walked after Haley.

"What was that?" Nick asked, looking back after the girls in a state of utter confusion.

Nathan didn't reply, instead he just stormed off into the gym in a stony manner.

"That...was Nathan and Haley being civil." Lucas replied.

"Civil?" Nick asked as if Lucas was crazy.

"Oh yeah, you're lucky that was all that went down." Lucas said. "Trust me, whatever you do – don't get involved in that mess."

Nick nodded.

"But most importantly, if you want to stay on Nathan's good side this year," Lucas said. "_Never _mention the name Haley James to him. _Ever._"

**Please Review and tell me if you want me to keep going :)**

**Also, I'm a Lucas/Peyton fan but I really don't mind writing them both with whoever so as this is a Nathan and Haley story could you please tell me who you'd like together! It can be for anyone as well, not just Lucas and Peyton. Thanks guys x.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed – you totally blew me away :)**

**Some people have conflicting couples but I'm going to try and work them all in, in some way or another. Enjoy, this is a long one :)**

The harsh sound of her alarm made Brooke's head begin to throb as she opened her eyes.

"Oh my god" she said as she clutched her hand to her forehead.

Haley came bouncing into Brooke's bedroom looking fresh and excited.

"Rise and shine, it's the first day of classes!" She said to Brooke eagerly.

"That's about the last reason why I'd want to rise or be shiny." Brooke replied, still holding her head in pain. "Could you please speak quieter? It sounds like you're yelling."

Haley laughed. "That's what you get for going to a party the night before classes start. Hate to say I told you so but..."

"Yeah, yeah. You told me so." Brooke said, climbing out of bed. "Is Peyton up yet?"

"Yeah, I just woke her up." Haley said. "She had an even worse reaction to it than you."

Brooke laughed, knowing exactly what Peyton was like when she had to get up before she wanted to. "Ouch! Don't make me laugh. It sounds like elephants are dancing in my head."

Haley smiled. "Okay, well get dressed and we'll go get some breakfast. It'll help with the hangover."

Brooke nodded slowly and Haley skipped out of the room.

Lucas sat on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. The boys had finally sorted out their room and decided it might be easier to just have breakfast supplies in the dorm so they could sleep for longer. As he watched the TV, he began to think about the awkward run-in they had with the girls the other day. He didn't know what to do about it. Haley was his best friend but Nathan was his brother, not to mention his roommate. Seeing Brooke and Peyton here didn't help things either. The five of them had been the closest of friends in high school but Brooke and Peyton were more than just friends to Lucas. He'd never said anything to either one, mostly because he didn't know which one he wanted more. Lucas decided that it would be selfish to test one out only to decide he wanted the other one, so he left it alone. He didn't want to lose either of their friendship or ruin the friendship they had with each other. Nobody said it was easy though.

Nick came out of his bedroom rubbing his eyes.

"Ooh, first day of classes and I already hate waking up early." He said to Lucas.

"I know how you feel." Lucas replied with a laugh. "Although, I didn't go to a party the night before my first classes."

Nick laughed. "Yeah, that was stupid. Remind me not to do that again."

"Want some cereal?" Lucas asked, holding the box up.

"Nah man, I think I might go down to the cafeteria. After last night I need a big breakfast to get me going." Nick said.

Just as Nick spoke, Nathan walked out of his room looking like he had been run over by a truck.

"Ooh!" Lucas said, trying to contain his laughter. "Someone had a big night."

"Shut up, Lucas." Nathan growled in a low voice. The mixture of the sun and his pounding headache had not put Nathan in the best mood.

"Well, hey." Nick said looking at Nathan. "Now I don't feel so bad anymore."

Lucas laughed. "How much did you drink last night, Nate?"

"I don't know, too much." Nathan said as he went over to the fridge and began to skull a bottle of water from inside it.

"Look man, I'm just going down to get a big breakfast at the cafeteria, want to come?" Nick offered.

"No thanks, the thought of food right now isn't settling too well with me." Nathan replied, collapsing down on the couch next to Lucas. Lucas began to laugh as he heard a knock on the door.

He got up to answer it only to see a blonde guy standing on the other side of it that Lucas had never seen before in his life.

Lucas frowned. "Uhh, hi?"

"Hi, um" the blonde guy started.

"Cam!" Nick yelled from across the room, walking up to the door and shaking the blonde guy's hand. "What are you doing here?"

"Just came to check your dorm out." The guy said.

"Right." Nick said before turning to Nathan and Lucas. "Oh, guys this is Cameron. My friend from school."

"Oh right." Lucas said and then extended his hand to shake Cameron's. "Nice to meet you man. I'm Lucas."

"Nathan." Nathan said, waving his hand above his head. "I'd get up but at this moment in time it's just not worth it. No offence."

Cam laughed. "None taken. Big night?"

"Yeah. Nate and I went to that party at that chick's dorm last night. Big mistake." Nick laughed. "I was actually gonna go get some breakfast, wanna come?"

"Yeah, alright." Cam said. "Good to meet you guys."

"You too." Lucas said shutting the door behind them then turning to Nathan. "So Nathan about the other day.."

"What about the other day?" Nathan asked, his eyes growing darker as he sensed where Lucas was going.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk about it but they're here and we have to figure out a way to deal with it." Lucas pleaded.

Nathan shook his head and his voice grew angrier. "No we don't. And you're right, I don't want to talk about it. _Ever._"

Nathan stormed off into his room leaving Lucas sighing in defeat.

Haley, Brooke and Peyton say down at a free table with their trays of food.

"C'mon, eat and you'll feel better." Haley urged her two friends.

"Yeah, yeah." Peyton said, becoming a little brighter at the sight of the food. "So do you reckon we'll have to do much work today? I mean, it's the first day and I don't think I could deal with that right now."

"Good start to college, Peyton." Haley smiled sarcastically.

"Yeah well I agree with Peyton." Brooke piped in. "I so can't deal with doing work today."

"When have you ever been able to deal with doing work?" Peyton asked.

Haley started to laugh and Brooke gave them both evil glares. "Shut up."

"How's the headache going, Brooke?" Haley asked.

"Well, it was going away but then you two started talking." Brooke replied, poking out her tongue.

"Ohh, you went to that party last night even though we told you it was a bad idea." Peyton said with a laugh. "So deal with it."

"I hate you both." Brooke said as she clutched her forehead.

"Brooke?" The girls heard a deep voice say from behind them. Peyton and Haley turned to see it was that random guy standing with Lucas and Nathan the other day. Haley shuddered at the memory and instantly became uncomfortable.

"Nick!" Brooke said, suddenly becoming very chirpy and jumping up from the table to give him a hug.

"Guys, this is Nick. I met him at the party last night." Brooke said to Haley and Peyton.

"Hi," Peyton said as friendly as she could.

"Hey." Haley said timidly.

"Nice to properly meet you guys." Nick said, obviously referring to the other day making the three girls squirm. "This is Cam, my friend from high school."

"Hi!" Brooke said excitedly, marvelling at the gorgeous guy standing in front of her. "I'm Brooke."

"Nice to meet you." Cam said in response before turning to Haley and Peyton. "And you guys are?"

"I'm Peyton and she's Haley." Peyton said.

"Haley," the guy smiled in her direction. "Hope I'll be seeing you around."

Haley's eyes widened in surprise and Brooke had to control herself into not let her mouth drop open.

"Yeah, you too." Haley replied with a smile. She looked at Cam and decided that besides being obviously cute, he seemed nice. Maybe this would be a good fresh start, in more ways than one.

"Alright, well hopefully we'll see you guys later." Nick said as he and Cam walked away.

"Yeah, bye." Brooke said waving after them before turning to Haley. "Oh my god! Did you see the way blonde hottie was completely all over you?"

Haley rolled her eyes. "He was not, he was just being nice."

"Wish he was that nice to me." Peyton said.

Brooke laughed and Haley rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Nathan walked into his Business class hoping to see someone he recognised. Upon first glance around the room he saw nobody until he heard a familiar voice shout from the back.

"Nate!" A darked haired boy called.

"Jake," Nathan smiled. "Good to see you man."

"Yeah, you too." Jake replied as Nathan took a seat next to him.

"When did you get here man?" Nathan asked Jake.

"Oh, I don't live on campus. I've got an apartment nearby so I can look after Jenny." Jake explained. "I have a nanny who watches her while I have classes."

"That's great man." Nathan said. "Also explains why I haven't seen you around."

Across the room, a girl with long brown hair was admiring Nathan.

"Hey Erica, who's that?" She whispered to her friend, nodding towards Nathan.

The blonde girl whipped her head around. "Oh, that's Nathan Scott. He's hot right?"

The brown haired girl laughed. "Uhh, yeah!"

"I know. Not to mention, he's going to be the next NBA star. He's on a basketball scholarship here. He's that good." Erica giggled.

"Looks like he's good at more than just basketball." The brown haired girl said, joining in on her friend's laughter.

After the class had ended, Nathan picked up his books and felt a presence beside him. He turned to see a pretty brunette standing there smiling at him.

"Hi?" Nathan said to her.

"Hi," she said, still smiling. "I'm Gigi Silveri. Well, Georgia Silveri, but, you know, Gigi." She said nervously.

Nathan nodded, used to the effect he had on girls like her. "I'm Nathan.."

"Scott, I know." Gigi said before he could finish. "I've heard about you. Next famous basketball star. You gonna lead Duke to the championship or what?"

"You can count on it." Nathan smirked.

Gigi laughed a little too enthusiastically. "Good, then that means I won't have to cheer for a losing team."

"You're a cheerleader?" Nathan asked.

"Sure am." Gigi replied, handing him a slip of paper with her number on it. "So feel free to give me a call whenever. I hear cheerleaders and basketball players are a good mix."

Gigi walked out of the room leaving Nathan smirking. _God, my life is too easy sometimes._

Haley sat down in the front row of her English class by herself, used to not knowing anyone. She had taken college classes in high school and never was with any of her friends. She got her notebook and pens out ready to start the lesson. She was excited. Haley was a nerd and having nobody she knew in her class was a good thing she decided, it meant that she wouldn't have any distractions. Just as the thought entered her mind, Haley felt somebody sit down beside her.

"Told you I'd be seeing you around." Cameron said with a smile on his face.

"Oh, hi!" Haley said smiling. "It's Cam, right?"

"Yeah, it is Haley." He said, making a point of knowing her name.

Haley laughed. "Just when I was beginning to think I wouldn't know anyone in my classes this year."

"Yeah, same here." Cam replied. "Excited to be here?"

"Would it freak you out to tell you that I was ecstatic?" Haley asked.

Cam laughed. "You like school, I take it."

"Oh, no. I _love _school." Haley corrected. "Natural born nerd. Books and pens turn me on."

"I'll keep that in mind." Cam laughed as he watched Haley blush.

"So what brings you to Duke?" Haley asked, trying to change the subject.

"Basketball. Nick and I played together on our high school team. I love it." Cam replied. He frowned when he noticed Haley's face fall. "Is that a problem? Do you not like basketball or something?"

"Oh no, it's not that." Haley replied, not wanting to share any details with him just yet. "I'm a cheerleader so I'll be cheering you on this year."

"Only more incentive to win then." Cam grinned, turning to talk to her more intently. "So what brings you to Duke and not another school?"

Haley frowned. "What do you mean, not another school?"

"Well you said yourself you are a natural born nerd so I'm guessing you would have got accepted to a bunch of places." Cam replied.

"Oh, well it's kind of a long story." Haley said.

"The teacher seems to be running late." Cam said, motioning to the empty desk at the front of the room. "Might as well hear the start at least."

Haley smiled nervously. "Well, I actually always wanted to go to Stanford."

"Really?" Cam raised his eyebrows. "Why didn't you go? Didn't get in?"

"No, I got in." Haley said, taking a breath. He obviously wasn't afraid of asking the tough questions. "At the time I put my applications in, I had a really close-knit group of friends and Duke was the one school we all had in common."

"Ahh, so you came here because of your friends?" Cam asked hesitantly.

"Kind of. I mean, I know it sounds stupid but there were other things going on at the time and basically when I received my acceptance letter I just knew that I wanted to come here. I'd read up a lot about it and it's a great school." Haley explained. "I've never been the type to base my education on my friends but, I don't know, this was different. Anyway, now that I'm here, I'm glad to be here."

"Don't worry, I get you." Cam said with a reassuring smile. "If it means anything, I'm glad you chose to come here too."

Haley smiled at him. "Thanks."

A short man wearing thick rimmed glasses came stumbling into the room juggling about ten books in his hands. "Sorry, I'm late. They need to mark the doors of these rooms better at this school." The teacher said as he put his things down.

Haley and Cam stopped talking and turned to the front to start paying attention. Once the lesson was over, Haley and Cam picked up their things and walked out of the classroom together.

"So, I was wondering, are you doing anything this weekend?" Cam asked.

"Um, I think Brooke wants us to go to about a million parties. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason she came to college." Haley laughed.

"That's perfect then. A girl from my high school, Gigi, is throwing a party at her dorm and I was hoping you guys could come." Cam said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah that sounds like fun. Brooke will be happy." Haley replied.

"Great, well can I have your number so I can text you the info?" Cam asked.

"Yeah sure." Haley said and they switched phones, both putting their numbers in.

"There you go." Haley said, handing Cam his phone back.

"Great, thanks. I'll see you later on then. I've got another class now." Cam smiled and waved as he turned and walked off.

"Bye." Haley waved back.

"Yes!" Brooke squealed. "I heard people talking about that party in class. Apparently both the basketball and football teams are all going."

"Glad I could help." Haley replied.

"Oh, Haley you're the best!" Brooke said, giving the small blonde girl a hug.

Peyton rolled her eyes. "It's just a party Brooke. Calm down."

"Why should I?" Brooke said. "A party is a thing to get excited over P. Sawyer."

"Girls, come over here and line up." They heard Jessica, the head cheerleader, call.

All the girls of the squad lined up in front of her to start off their training session.

"Now, I know not all of you know each other so we'll spend the first few minutes getting acquainted." Jessica said to the group. "We have four freshmen joining the squad this year which is a lot more than usual, but it seems that they have stepped it up for us. So everybody welcome Brooke Davis, Peyton Sawyer, Georgia Silveri and Haley James."

The girls clapped and shook one another's hands.

"Everyone calls me Gigi." Georgia said.

Brooke's eyes widened with excitement. "You're Gigi? As in the one throwing the party this Friday?"

"Sure am." Gigi said with a smile.

"Oh! Awesome." Brooke said. "Haley's friend invited us, we can't wait."

"Oh, cool." Gigi smiled. "Who's your friend?"

"Cameron..." Haley started to say, realising she didn't know his last name.

"Oh, Cam! He's from my high school." Gigi said. "Well don't worry, you guys would have been invited anyway. The whole squad is."

Peyton, Haley and Brooke smiled at her.

"Thanks." Peyton said before turning to the other two. "She seems nice."

"Yeah, thank god." Brooke said. "I was afraid they were all going to be super bitches."

Haley laughed. "Really? I was just afraid they were all going to be like you."

Brooke poked her tongue out at Haley.

"Which is pretty much the same thing." Peyton added and made Haley laugh.

"You guys are so mean to me." Brooke pouted.

"Aww, no. We love you Brooke!" Haley said.

"Sooo much." Peyton said smiling.

"Yeah, yeah," Brooke said. "You'll be sorry one day when I'm super rich from owning my own clothing company and you're grovelling at my feet from the gutter."

"Ooh, so not looking forward to that day." Haley said.

"Same here." Peyton added.

As the girls began to laugh, they heard the rumble of footsteps as the basketball team made their way into the gym for practise.

"Okay, everybody. Let's get started now." Called Jessica.

The girls formed back together in a group in front of Jessica as the boys walked by them. Haley caught Nathan's eye as he walked past and her face instantly went cold. He responded to her facial expression in the same way and they stared each other down as he continued walking past. Gigi, who was watching the whole thing, looked on curiously.

"Psst," she whispered to Brooke who had lined up next to her. "What's going on there?"

Brooke turned her head to see what Gigi was looking at and felt her smile drop. "Nothing you want to know about, trust me."

"Do they know each other?" Gigi asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Yeah." Brooke replied. "We, uh, we all went to the same high school together."

"We all?" Gigi asked.

"Huh?" Brooke said, turning her attention away from Nathan and Haley. "Oh yeah. Me, Haley, Nathan, Peyton, Lucas and Jake over there." Brooke said, pointing over to where Lucas and Jake were standing on the court. "But seriously, don't bring it up. We don't exactly have the fondest memories."

Gigi nodded and didn't ask any other questions, but her curiosity had just tripled about the situation and she was going to get to the bottom of it. No better place for that than her party, she decided.

That Friday night, Brooke couldn't wait to get back to her dorm room. Even though she actually liked her classes, she'd had definitely had enough of them and was very thankful for the arrival of the weekend.

"Oh my god, I literally thought I was going to die in that last class." She exclaimed as she entered her dorm room. "He just kept talking and talking. I started daydreaming so many times that I actually ran out of things to think about."

"We're not being melodramatic at all." Peyton said from the couch.

"Whatever, it's over now." Brooke said, acting as if she hadn't heard Peyton's comment. "Now it's time to get ready for the party!"

Brooke's mood instantly lifted and she ran towards her room.

"Have you guys decided what you're wearing yet?" Haley and Peyton heard Brooke call from her room.

"Yeah." Haley said.

"Nope." Peyton said at the same time. "I mean, its college. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters!" Brooke said outraged, appearing at her doorway with a straightener in her hand. "You don't want to turn up looking like crap. What boy is going to want to make out with crap?"

"Who says I'm going to this party to make out with a boy?" Peyton asked.

Brooke looked at Peyton like she was crazy. "Uhhhm, its college! You just said so yourself!"

Peyton laughed in defeat then turned to Haley. "What's the point in trying to argue with that?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking leave that alone." Haley replied, laughing at the exchange.

"So, Tutor Girl, ready to wow blondie?" Brooke asked Haley.

"I'm not looking to wow anyone, thank you very much." Haley said.

"Oh, whatever." Brooke said as she looked at herself in the mirror. "Well I definitely want to wow someone. Not that it's ever too hard for me."

Peyton rolled her eyes. _That girl will never change._

"So, what do you think – red dress or jeans and my green strapless top?" Brooke asked the two others, holding up both outfits.

"Well I'm wearing jeans and knowing Peyton, she will be too so the dress." Haley said. "Besides, red's your best colour."

Brooke smiled, holding the dress up to herself in the mirror. "It totally is, isn't it?"

Leaving Brooke to stare at herself, Haley got up off the couch. "C'mon Peyton. Better go get ready or else she'll bite our heads off if we aren't ready when she is."

Peyton groaned, getting up as well. "I guess that's true. Honestly, the things I do for you Brooke Davis."

Nathan and Lucas just arrived outside Gigi's dorm room. As they entered inside, their ears were instantly filled with the sounds of loud music and shouting.

"So how'd you find out about this?" Lucas shouted in Nathan's ear.

"Some girl from class invited me. Besides, Nick said he knows her so he's here with that blonde guy as well." Nathan replied, shouting back.

Making their way through the swarms of people, Lucas spotted Nick sitting down at a table.

"Hey man." Lucas said, as he walked up to him.

"Hey" Nick replied. "Glad you guys could make it. There's beer in Gigi's room over there." He pointed.

"Is it me or does this dorm seem huge?" Nathan asked.

"Oh they opened up the connecting door with the next room." Nick shouted over the speakers.

Nathan nodded his head.

"Where's Cam?" Lucas asked.

"Uhh, he's around here somewhere." Nick laughed, obviously not having paid much attention to Cam's whereabouts.

"I'm going to get a beer." Nathan said.

"Get me one too." Lucas called after him before joining in on the table's conversation.

As Nathan walked away, Cam appeared at the table.

"Oh, hey man." Lucas said, extending his hand for Cam to shake. "We met the other day, I'm Lucas."

"Yeah, I remember." Cam said, shaking Luca's hand. "Good of you to come tonight."

Lucas nodded. "So I hear you play ball?"

"Yeah, Nick and I tore it up back home on the high school court." Cam said with a smile.

"Yeah, we did." Nick added, taking another swig of beer.

"Good to know," Lucas said. "Hopefully that means we won't be losing this year."

Just as Lucas spoke, Nathan returned with the beers.

"Lucas, I'm on the team." Nathan said, causing Lucas's head to turn. "So of course we won't be losing."

"Don't talk it up too much now," Lucas warned, rolling his eyes at his brother. "It will just make it awkward if we end up losing half the games."

"Won't happen." Nathan said with a cocky confidence.

"Agreed." Cam said from behind him. Nathan gave him a nod and took a swig of beer.

"So, who's the better player out of the two of you?" Nathan asked, pointing to Cam and Nick. Lucas turned and gave his brother a "why would you ask that?" look.

"Me." Nick and Cam said at the same time before laughing.

"The last thing we need is in team competition." Lucas said.

"He's just saying that because he knows I'm better." Nathan said to the others.

"You wish." Lucas replied.

"Nah, I don't." Nathan said. "I know."

"So, I'm thinking this has to be it." Peyton said as she heard the music pumping through the walls outside Gigi's dorm.

"Eep! I'm so excited." Brooke squealed, taking Peyton by the hand. "Come on let's go in."

Brooke turned to give Haley a wink. "Ready for your first college party?"

"Let's hope so." Haley said and Brooke put her arm around her, walking them through the door. The dimly lit room was already crowded with people. Haley suddenly felt extremely intimidated when all heads turned to watch the three of them enter the room. She was used to it back home from all the parties she was made to go to by Brooke where everyone knew who they were, but nobody knew them here and it freaked her out.

"Way to make a grand entrance." Haley heard Brooke say, sure that her friend was loving the attention.

As they made their way through the room, slowly people stopped looking. Except for a few.

Hearing the chatter die down slightly, Lucas turned around to see what everyone was looking at. The first thing he saw were Brooke and Peyton walking in together, holding hands. It hit him like a punch in the stomach. They both looked amazing. Brooke in a short red dress with matching heels and Peyton in ripped black jeans and a dark singlet top, Lucas smiled at how well they coordinated their clothing with their personalities. It made it all so much harder. Averting his eyes from the two to get his mind off it, he saw Brooke's arm around Haley's neck. His best friend's long blonde hair was flowing past her shoulders and reached the middle of her back from being straightened. In dark blue skinny jeans, a white top that left a good two inches of skin exposed at the bottom and high black heels, Lucas realised how different she was in comparison to high school. A few years ago if she had come dressed to a party like that Lucas wouldn't have even thought it was Haley. But now, this was Haley. It was who she was. It scared him a little bit, but he loved her all the same. He immediately looked towards Nathan, seeing that he was still talking with Cam about basketball. Lucas tensed, hoping Nathan wouldn't turn around and could somehow just miss her walking in. He thought he had just about got away with it just as Cam looked over to see what the fuss was about.

"Hey!" Cam said across the room.

Nathan looked at him curiously then turned to see who he was talking to. Cam pushed past him and walked up to the three girls.

"Glad you could come." He said to them with a smile.

"We know you are." Brooke replied, flashing her dimples.

Cam laughed, then put his arm around Haley's shoulder. "Thanks for coming." He whispered in her ear. "Decided I was cool enough to come see?"

Haley laughed. "Who said I came to see you?"

Nathan was seething. Why was she even here? The whole point of college is to be able to get away from all your problems from home life and all the people you couldn't stand in high school. She was ruining it for him, just like she ruined everything else. Seeing Cam put his arm around her shoulder made him feel sick. He was just being nice to that guy, even thinking he could see him as a possible friend for this year and now he's with her? He wanted to punch him. He should have worn a sign or something to let him know that he was with Haley, honestly. Nathan watched as Cam whispered something into Haley's ear and she laughed in response. He couldn't take seeing her laugh, he had to turn around. She didn't deserve to be happy, not after what she did to him.

"Come over here." Cam said to the girls. "I'll introduce you to some of the guys."

Brooke smiled and still walking hand in hand with Peyton, followed Cam and Haley to the table.

"Alright, everyone this is Brooke and Peyton." Cam said, pointing to the two girls to indicate which was which. "And this," he said looking at Haley who was still tucked under his arm, "is Haley."

The girls heard a chorus of "heys" being replied to them as well as many winks and smiles coming their way.

"This is Andrew, Simon, you know Nick," Cam said as he pointed around the table. "Billy, Michael, Lucas and Nathan."

As Cam said the last name Haley dreaded looking in his direction. Nathan's face looked the same as it always did when she was around. Stone cold and like he could explode into an angry rage if the tiniest thing set him off. She hated it. The way he looked at her like she was vermin, as if she wasn't even a person. She felt the anger and resentment of the past year and a half rise within her and all she wanted to do was walk up to his face and scream. Before she got the chance, Brooke started laughing.

"Yeah, we know Lucas and Nathan." She said, with Peyton smiling behind her. "We all went to high school together."

"Really?" Nick asked.

Cam looked down at Haley. "Seriously? So you know these guys already?"

Haley looked up at him and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I do."

"Excuse me." Nathan said in an incredibly low voice after taking his final swig of beer left in the bottle and heading off towards Gigi's room.

"Not a very warm welcome." Nick said to the girls with a confused face. "Are you guys not on the best terms?"

They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before Lucas spoke up.

"No, Nathan's just being moody. You'll get used to it." Lucas tried to shake it off with a laugh. "Haley and I are actually best friends."

Haley smiled at Lucas. She knew she could always count on him.

"Really? Cool." Cam said. "Well, let's get the party started, hey?"

Around an hour and a half later, the party was in full swing and three quarters of people were completely drunk. Brooke had danced with practically every single guy in the room, while Peyton kept to the couches talking to whoever else sat down. Haley had stayed at the table with Cam, talking to the other guys and a few girls who had joined in. She was having fun and she was thankful for the distraction to keep her mind off _him._

"Oh, we're out of vodka." Sarah, one of the girls at the table said.

"No worries, I'll get it." Nick said, getting up but quickly sitting back down. "Woah, head rush."

Haley laughed. "That's okay, I'll get it."

"You know where to go?" Cam asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Haley replied and made her way to Gigi's room. The dorm was stuffy and smelled like alcohol, so Haley appreciated the cleaner air she breathed in as she walked into Gigi's room. She spotted a bottle of vodka in an ice bucket beside the bed and headed towards it. As she grabbed it she heard a voice from behind her.

"You hate vodka." Nathan's deep voice said. "Unless you like it now because it's the _cool _thing to do."

Haley spun around quickly. Nathan was sitting on top of Gigi's desk beside the door. She hadn't seen him when she walked in.

She looked at him in disgust. "You don't get to judge me." She said firmly. "You don't know anything about me."

Nathan laughed. "You know Haley, I knew you were a bitch and a slut but I guess I can go ahead and add liar to that list now too."

Haley ignored his words as best she could. She was used to him saying things like that to her by now. "I am not a liar." She growled back at him.

"Really? Could've fooled me." He said smirking and taking a large gulp of some kind of brown alcohol from the bottle he was holding in his hand.

"You're pathetic." Haley spat at him. "You're wasting away, Nathan. I mean you used to be _Nathan Scott._ Who are you now?" She said condescendingly.

"Oh, trust me. I'm still Nathan Scott." Nathan replied firmly, his voice getting deeper.

"Really? Could've fooled me." She mocked him. "You used to have all the right moves on the court, and all the right words off it. People would bow down when they saw you. People feared you. Nobody's afraid of you now, Nathan. Nobody."

"Really, is that so?" Nathan stood up, getting angrier by the second. "Well you used to have to answers to everything. Whether it was for school or if it was in life in general, you always steered people in the right direction and gave great advice. People respected you because you were rare. Nobody else was like you. But you tossed it all away and ending up becoming worse than all of them."

Haley mustered up her anger and gave Nathan an evil smile. "I guess we switched places then."

Haley grabbed the vodka bottle and began to walk out the door.

Nathan's rage consumed him. "I _made_ you." He growled in the lowest voice Haley had ever heard him speak in.

She reached the door and took a deep breath. Turning around, Haley gave Nathan a smirk.

"And I _destroyed _you."

With that, she turned back around and walked out of the room.

**Please review and keep telling me what and who you like/dislike! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Thank you so much to all the amazing people who reviewed. Sorry I didn't get this up sooner. Shout out to ****iheartnaley23**** for your enthusiastic review. You're beautiful!**

Brooke plonked herself down on an empty chair with a thud.

"Woo," she said as she held her head, trying to make the room stop spinning. "I think I'm getting drunk!"

As Brooke began laughing hysterically, Peyton looked at her friend as if she were crazy. Although it was the kind of crazy Peyton was used to.

"You _think _you're getting drunk?" She asked. All Peyton got was more laughing in response.

Across the other side of the table, a guy named Andrew began tapping on a glass.

"Okay everybody!" He shouted, although only the people within close vicinity heard him. The party was still in full swing and it was almost impossible to hear over the loud music. "How about a game of 'I Never'?"

"Don't think that's such a good idea," Nick said. "I've only just met most of these people; don't want to freak them out just yet."

"Oh, come on." Gigi said with an enthusiastic smile, spying Haley across the table. "It will be fun."

Haley noticed the way Gigi was looking at her and frowned in confusion. _Why would she want to play 'I Never' with me?_

"Yeah, come on." Cam agreed from beside Haley. "Why not, right?"

Nathan was sitting at the end of the table in solitude in the furthest seat from Haley that he could possibly be in. He hadn't said a word since he'd come out of Gigi's bedroom.

"Good." Gigi smiled triumphantly. "Simon, you go first."

Simon, a shy boy with light brown hair looked up from beside Brooke. He hadn't really said much all night, he'd just been happily sitting there and laughing when everybody else did. Haley felt sorry for him, she knew what it was like to be in this kind of setting and feel left out.

"Don't put him on the spot," Haley said coming to his defence and earning a small smile from the boy. "Why don't you go first, Cam?"

Cam raised his eyebrows then nodded his head. "Alright. Um, I never...have been to a professional basketball game."

From the end of the table, Nathan scoffed.

"Seriously?" Lucas asked. "Never?"

"Never." Cam said. "I wish though."

Nathan, Lucas, Nick, Andrew, and Simon all took a drink.

"Okay, that was a boring one." Gigi laughed, turning to Nathan with a wicked. "Nathan, your turn."

Nathan's eyes jerked up at Gigi. "Why me?"

"Because the next person is always someone who just drank and that was you."

"Wasn't just me." Nathan deadpanned.

"Well, I chose you." Gigi laughed in an attempt to be cute that fell flat. "So, come on. Tell us all your secrets."

Nathan straightened up in his seat, clearly not happy at having to participate. As he began to think, a smirk graced his lips. Haley observed him from across the table and instantly became nervous. She knew that look. "I never had sex with someone for revenge."

Suddenly, Brooke's giggles came to a holt and she sat upright. She didn't feel so drunk anymore. Lucas and Peyton stiffened in their seats while the rest of the table looked at Nathan with confusion. Haley felt as if she was on fire. She couldn't believe he had just said that. She would have to drink now or else he would taunt her in front of everybody, she just knew it.

Gigi looked between Nathan and Haley curiously. She didn't think her plan would work this well.

Just as Haley picked up her bottle, Brooke quickly took the beer from Simon's hands and drank from it. Everyone looked at her with surprise.

"My ex-boyfriend," Brooke shrugged. "Yeah, big jerk. Big, big jerk." She continued with animated hand gestures. "Thought he had me fooled but you should have seen the look on his face when he found out what I'd been doing with his best friend that past weekend!"

Brooke began to laugh and the rest of the table did with her. Haley quickly took the moment to take a sip. She made eye contact with Nathan as she did it. He wasn't going to beat her. Not here, not this time. She was over letting him tear her apart in public.

She put her bottle back down on the table before anybody noticed that she'd even taken a sip. As Brooke began her 'I Never', Haley realised she didn't want to be here anymore. She looked over at Nathan who was obviously furious at Brooke's diversion. She couldn't leave while he was still here or else he would think it was because of him. Which it was, but that didn't mean she wanted him to know that. As if luck would have it, Nathan suddenly rose from his seat.

"I need some air." He said stonily to nobody in particular before retreating out of the room.

Haley breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to Cam. "Hey, would it be okay if I leave? I'm really tired all of a sudden."

Cam furrowed his brows in concern. "Yeah, that's fine. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Haley reassured him with a smile. "I think I was a bit too eager to get to class this morning and got up too early."

Cam laughed. "Alright, I'll walk you to your dorm."

She smiled at him. "Thanks."

As Haley and Cam rose from the table, Brooke and Peyton looked at Haley with concern. She gave them both reassuring smiles and then mouthed "I'm fine, don't worry". Brooke and Peyton sunk back down into their seats, still slightly worried.

"I'll call you in a bit." Brooke said after her.

Haley smiled back and then walked out of the room with Cam.

As they approached the door of Haley's dorm, the conversation between Haley and Cam died down.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for inviting me tonight." She smiled up at him. "I had fun."

"Really?" Cam asked, not looking all that convinced.

"Yeah, I promise." Haley let out with a light laugh, holding onto his forearm. "Coming back early had nothing to do with the party or you. This week is just catching up with me I think."

Cam smiled. "Okay, good."

The two of them stopped in front of the dorm door. Haley felt Cam grab a hold of her hand and looked up to see his bright green eyes staring at her like a cat.

"So does that mean I can invite you to something else sometime?" Cam asked hopefully. "Maybe with just you and me?"

Haley smiled at him but underneath it all she felt her stomach sinking. "Yeah, definitely. But um, look Cam..."

Cam's smile quickly faded and he let go of her hand. "Oh, you don't have to say it." He said dejectedly. "I get it, you want to just be friends."

"No!" Haley said, taking his hand back. "That's not it, I promise. It's just," She took a deep breath. "It's just last year, at school, I was in this relationship that was pretty serious and, I mean I know it's stupid because it was over ten months ago, but I'm just not ready for another boyfriend yet."

Cam's face softened. "Oh."

"Yeah," Haley said searching his face for signs of hope. "It was complicated and messy, and maybe I'll tell you about it sometime but for right now I just want to forget about it."

Cam nodded. "I understand, Haley. It's alright."

As he turned to leave, Haley pulled back on his hand.

"Wait." She said. "I'm not done." She let out a small laugh and Cam looked at her with confusion. "Even though I'm not ready for a full blown relationship, I need to move on. I tried a few really unconventional ways of doing so last year that didn't work out so well for me but, if you want to, I'd really like to keep seeing you."

Cam raised his eyebrows as Haley nervously awaited his reply. The corners of Cam's mouth began to lift and his eyes brightened.

"I definitely want to." He smiled at her. "Whatever you need is fine with me."

Haley smiled back. "Thank you Cam. I promise it won't be like this forever."

He nodded. Silence overcame the two and Cam began to intertwine his fingers with Haley's. Ignoring the feeling in her stomach, Haley allowed her eyes to connect with his and braced herself as she watched him lean towards her. She owed the poor boy this. Their lips connected and they shared a sweet kiss outside Haley's dorm room. As they drew apart, Haley gave Cam a final small smile.

"Okay, well I better get inside." She said.

"Yeah," Cam replied as he held the door open for her. "Have a good sleep Haley."

"Thanks, you too." Haley said and shut the door behind her.

Haley rested her bag down on the living room table and headed into the bathroom. As she removed her makeup, she let the dread of going to bed come over her. It was her least favourite part of every single day. It's funny, because not too long ago she used to love it. She walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, taking off her heels and throwing them into her closet. She quickly got changed from her jeans and top into a pair of pyjama shorts and an old oversize t-shirt that didn't belong to her. It was hard enough getting to sleep these days, but without that t-shirt she knew she would never be able to close her eyes. Letting her long blonde hair fall down her back, she climbed into bed and lay down. Haley stared at the ceiling for a good minute or so as she let all the barricades she held up during the day come crashing down, as if she didn't have an ounce of strength left in her to keep them up any longer. She felt a tear escape from her eye and slide down her cheek. She turned over in her bed and felt the cold emptiness that encompassed the other side. Then the tears began to flow much more rapidly as she felt every emotion she'd been holding in come spilling out. She closed her eyes and wished for things to be different. She wished to go back, she wished to go forward. She wished to be anywhere but here, to feel anything but this. For the next hour, Haley lay in her bed crying herself to sleep.

Just like she did every other night.

The weekend passed by in a blur with nothing too eventful occurring. Brooke had her first college hook up which Haley and Peyton did not stop hearing about and Haley had gone to see a movie with Cam on Sunday night. She had a good time. Cam was nice and sincere, but also funny and light hearted. She couldn't ask for much more than that. Well not for the moment, at least.

Cheer practise on Monday afternoon was a big wakeup call to Brooke, Haley and Peyton who began to feel the real effects of the weekend.

"Alright, everyone we're done for the day." Jessica, the cheer captain announced. "Good effort today girls, but let's not make it a habit to party too hard every weekend."

The girls giggled and nodded.

"Okay, so as some of you might not know we have the Annual Duke Devil's Weekend coming up in two weeks." Jessica said to the squad. "Otherwise known as A.D.D. Weekend." Jessica smiled.

Most of the cheerleaders began to laugh while Haley, Peyton and Brooke looked between each other in confusion. None of them knew what the weekend was.

"Basically, it's a charity weekend Duke puts on every year where the basketball players invite another college team to play them to raise money for a particular organisation." Jessica explained to the girls. "Tickets to the game are sold as well as merchandise made by both schools. It's held in a different place each year as the college organises for it to be held in a city between the where two colleges playing are located. Naturally, the cheerleading squads are given two sections of time to perform during the game. One short one per team at the beginning and a bigger halftime show."

A grin quickly emerged on Brooke's face.

"Wait, if we are going to be in a different city, where will we stay?" Brooke asked, hoping desperately that the answer would be what she was thinking.

Jessica smiled at Brooke. "I was just getting to that. Besides the actual cheering of course, the best part of the weekend, and pretty much the reason it's called A.D.D. Weekend, is because everybody gets put up in hotel rooms for three nights."

Brooke jumped up in the air. "Oh my _god!_"

"You know, usually Brooke and I don't get excited over the same things but this actually sounds kind of awesome." Peyton remarked with a smile.

"Yeah, it kinda does!" Haley laughed at Brooke's antics. Grabbing a hold of her friends hand she tried to calm her down. "Woah, Brooke. Pace yourself, it's not for another two weeks."

"Whatever Tutor Girl, I'm excited!" Brooke squealed. "It's three freakin' nights!"

"This year, we are playing the Boston University Terriers and we are staying in Washington DC." Jessica announced before the squad got too excited. "So for the next two weeks there will be practise every day to get ourselves ready for it. There is one catch though."

Brooke suddenly stopped moving and looked at Jessica seriously.

"We have a total of sixteen fantastic girls on this squad but unfortunately the school is only putting up six hotel rooms for cheerleaders per school. As there are only two allowed per room, that means only twelve girls will be able to attend the weekend." Jessica explained to the now sullen group of girls.

Brooke felt her stomach sink. "How will you decide who gets to go?"

"Well to make it fair," Jessica replied, "Tomorrow I will split you up into groups of four and teach you a quick routine to perform to me at the end of the practise. One person from each group will stay behind, but don't worry to those who don't make it. You will have priority at the next cheer event and are still very much valued members of the squad. No girl here doesn't deserve to be, you all have talent. If anyone if willing to nominate themselves to sit out of the weekend and make my decision a little bit easier, please let me know."

The squad fell silent for a few moments before Haley cleared her throat.

"I'll sit out." Haley said to Jessica.

"What?" Brooke exclaimed from beside her. "Haley, no!"

Jessica raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure, Haley? You don't have to."

Haley nodded. "Yeah, its fine. I know all the girls here are dying to go and it would give me a good chance to have some uninterrupted study time anyway."

Brooke looked at Haley like she was crazy, while Jessica smiled at her.

"Okay, well I won't count you out just yet." Jessica said to Haley. "Just in case you change your mind, tell me your decision at practise tomorrow."

"Okay." Haley said.

The squad began to separate, collecting their things from the side of the gym while chatting about the upcoming weekend.

"Haley! What were you thinking? You _have _to come!" Brooke whined.

"Yeah Haley." Peyton added. "I mean, I can't deal with Brooke by myself all weekend."

Haley laughed. "Look guys, I know it sounds fun but you both know parties have never been a big deal to me. And while I love cheerleading, it wouldn't be fair to take the spot away from another girl on the squad who is dying to go."

"Who the hell cares!" Brooke exclaimed causing Peyton and Haley to laugh. "Screw the others. I'm doing nothing but lunges and high kicks tonight, you two better watch out. Nobody is beating me out of a position to that weekend tomorrow."

Across the gym, a rumble was heard as the basketball team ran in from doing laps outside. All the girls stopped to watch them run in, most of them sweating and shirtless. Haley quickly diverted her eyes as she saw the shine of Nathan's tanned chest enter the gym. It was the last thing she wanted to be looking at.

Gigi's eyes lit up as she saw Nathan run into the gym. She quickly rose to her feet and walked over to him.

"Hey Nathan." She said cheerily. "Looking good."

Nathan looked up after putting his water bottle on the ground.

"Thanks. You too." He replied causing her to giggle.

A few feet away, Haley stood listening to their conversation. She rolled her eyes at his lame attempt at a pick up line.

"So, you looking forward to the ADD Weekend?" Gigi asked him, obviously building up to something.

"Yeah, definitely. The Terriers are going down." Nathan replied as he pulled a shirt over his head.

Gigi giggled. "So, will you be sharing a hotel room with anybody in particular?"

Nathan raised his eyebrows at that. "Uh, nope. But I'm pretty sure we have to room with guys off the team anyway."

Gigi snickered. "Well there are _plenty _of ways around that."

Nathan laughed uncomfortably, then noticed Haley standing a few steps away and became hyper aware of her presence. "Yes, there are." He said to Gigi with his signature smirk.

"Great." Gigi replied. "Then I'll make sure I find a way around it then?"

"Definitely."

Haley felt her stomach squirm. She didn't need to hear that. Nathan and Gigi? He Who Should Not Be Named and the girl who seemed to have some weird vendetta out against her? This certainly was not going down well for Haley so she decided to do something about it.

She looked up to see Jessica walking out of the gym.

"Hey, wait!" Haley called out, running after her. "Jessica, hold on a second."

Jessica spun around and smiled at Haley. "Yes?"

"I was thinking, could you actually put me back on the list for trying out tomorrow?" Haley asked. "I would really like to come after all."

Jessica laughed. "Yeah, that's fine. I thought you might say that. Besides, I was kind of hoping you would. You're one of the best cheerleaders we've got."

"Thank you so much, Jessica." Haley said, honestly flattered. For someone who was a natural born klutz it was nice to hear something like that.

"Call me Jess." She smiled, then turned and walked out of the gym.

"Yeeeess!" Haley heard a high pitch, raspy squeal from behind her.

"Good work, Haley. Now we can all go to Washington together!" Brooke said excitedly, wrapping her arms around Peyton and Haley. "Okay, now back to the dorm for a quick snack and recharge and then we'll come back here to practise for tomorrow."

Haley and Peyton groaned. "No." They said in unison.

Brooke made an outraged face.

"Brooke, you're fantastic and you'll definitely make the cut tomorrow." Haley said, buttering Brooke up.

"Totally, I mean how could she not choose you?" Peyton followed up.

Brooke smiled. "You speak the truth."

"Good, now that means we can go back to our dorm and relax in peace." Peyton said with a smile as she grabbed Haley's hand. The two sprinted for the gym door together.

"Wait!" Brooke shouted after them. "That's not what I meant! We still _have _to practise!"

**Please Review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Sorry for the delay! Have been on holidays. Thank you to everybody who reviewed. To KTxx – Maybe is on hiatus for now, but I definitely want to get it finished :)**

"You know those awkward moments when you're walking down the hallway and someone is walking in the same path as you in the opposite direction?" Brooke started as she closed the door to their dorm. "And then you try to step out of their way but then they go the same way as you and you have to do that stupid laugh to not make it awkward?"

Haley smiled. "Yeah."

"Yeah, well I just ran into that Nick guy in the hallway and it happened," Brooke said. "And we both kept moving the same way so he grabbed my hands and kept me there while he walked around me."

"I'm failing to see the point of the story." Peyton remarked.

"He touched me. It was an amazing moment." Brooke replied before adding, "He's really hot!"

Haley laughed while Peyton rolled her eyes.

"It's the little things." Peyton commented to Haley.

"Anyway," Brooke interjected. "I asked him about you and Cam, Haley."

Haley's eyes widened. "What? Why would you do that? I've told you everything!"

"I know," Brooke said. "I just wanted to know what Cam had told Nick."

"Which was what?" Peyton asked.

"That Cam really liked her but he wants them to date properly." Brooke rattled off.

Haley groaned. "Why can't guys ever be okay with a non-committed relationship?"

Peyton and Brooke shared a look and then laughed.

Haley rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. The irony!"

"Would it be so bad if he was your boyfriend?" Brooke asked sensitively. "I mean, it's not like you're going to be with anyone else in the meantime."

Haley stiffened. "You know why he can't be my boyfriend."

"Yeah, I know." Brooke replied. "I just thought maybe it might make things easier..."

"It won't." Haley cut her off. "Look, can we just not talk about this? I'll be ready when I'm ready."

Peyton and Brooke nodded.

"Soo," Brooke said in an attempt to clear the air. "Who's totally psyched about next weekend, huh?"

Haley's smile returned.

"I knew we'd all be able to go." Brooke continued, referring to the Annual Duke Devil's Weekend that they'd made the team for. "It would have been even better if that Gigi girl didn't get in too though."

"What? I thought you liked Gigi?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah, I did but then she started talking." Brooke said with an unimpressed look on her face. "Everything that came out of her mouth was so stupid, and I mean, that's coming from me. Like seriously, she is so dumb. And that annoying laugh that she does every five seconds makes me want to punch her in the face."

Haley laughed. "Agreed."

"Woah, since when do you make such quick judgements about people?" Peyton asked Haley inquisitively.

"Since now, I guess." Haley responded with a shrug. "There's just something about her that's not quite right. Or maybe I just have a low tolerance for idiots."

Brooke sniggered and gave Haley a high five.

"Haley! Don't encourage Brooke." Peyton exclaimed.

"Sorry, I'm just kidding." Haley said. "Sort of."

"Well, I wasn't kidding." Brooke said flatly. "Anyway, I'm just psyched that we get to go. We have to figure out room arrangements by the way."

"Room arrangements?" Peyton asked confused.

"Yeah," Brooke replied. "You know how everybody is getting switched around."

Peyton and Haley groaned.

"Don't be like that." Brooke reprimanded. "I'm still trying to scope out who I want to be roomed with, but I'm thinking Nick is the way to go."

"Ever occurred to you that he may not want that?" Peyton asked.

Brooke gave Peyton a look that basically said 'what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about?'

"Oh, please." Brooke said, dismissing her comment with a flick of her wrist. "But back to room switching. That girl Stacy off the squad is organising it. So far she's with Connor, Jessica's with Brandon, Amy is with Jake..."

"Wait, what?" Peyton asked. "Amy is with Jake? As in Jagielski?"

"Yeah, apparently they met at the cafeteria last week and now she's obsessed with him." Brooke replied.

Peyton nodded. She and Jake had gone out in high school. It was weird hearing about him and another girl. She wasn't really sure how she felt about it.

"Anyway," Brooke continued. "As I was saying, Amy with Jake, hopefully me with Nick, Gigi with...oh, um..." Brooke stumbled on her words, realising she was too late to stop herself.

"Gigi with Nathan." Haley finished for Brooke.

"Yeah," Brooke said awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Haley replied. "They deserve each other. Besides, it makes me happy to think about how annoyed he is going to get after spending five minutes with that airhead."

Peyton smiled. "That's the spirit."

"So Haley, should I ask for you to be put with Cam?" Brooke asked excitedly.

"Uhh, no I don't think so." Haley said scrunching up her face.

"Why not?" Brooke demanded.

"We're not even going out Brooke." Haley replied. "Besides, I'd rather just room with Peyton. She doesn't have anyone either."

"Uhh yeah, but I'm sure _any _guy off the team would be happy to room with her." Brooke replied in her bouncy tone of voice. "Come on Haley, its college. This is what it's all about."

"I'll think about it." Haley said.

"Good." Brooke nodded in triumph. "Okay, now get your lazy asses off that couch, we have practise!"

Peyton groaned before lifting herself off the couch and dragging herself to her room to get changed. Haley remained sitting on the couch cross legged with a pout on her face.

"You know," She said. "I'm really beginning to regret this whole cheerleading thing."

Nathan felt a large thud against his head and jolted in his bed.

"What the..." He said, squinting his eyes at the harsh daylight to see Lucas above him. He had obviously thrown a pillow at his head.

"Get up." Lucas ordered. "We have practise."

"Lucas, it's Tuesday." Nathan said in an annoyed tone, rolling over in his bed to put his face in the pillows. "We don't have basketball practise on Tuesday's."

"Yeah usually, but this week we do." Lucas replied. "Did you not read your emails?"

"Who the hell reads the school emails?" Nathan asked.

"Uh, everyone that goes here." Lucas responded with raised eyebrows. "Coach wants to put in an extra practise this week to prepare for the game this weekend."

"Why?" Nathan whined. "We are going to crush them, everybody already knows that. Even they do!"

"I know." Lucas said, heading towards the door. "But we still have practise."

Nathan groaned into his pillow.

Nathan followed Lucas into the gym with a hoodie over his head. He really didn't feel like being here. He wasn't in the mood for running or dunking or talking. He just wanted to go back to bed.

Across the gym, Haley, Brooke and Peyton were enduring a painful conversation with Gigi.

"So, this weekend, who are you rooming with Peyton?" Gigi asked with bright eyes and annoyingly high pitch voice for a Tuesday morning.

"Uh, well I was thinking about..." Peyton began to respond, completely uninterested.

"Because I'm rooming with Nathan." Gigi, gushed cutting her off. "Just in case you were thinking about him."

Gigi giggled although everyone knew she was completely serious. Haley rolled her eyes at Gigi's obviousness. She had heard her telling the story of how she was rooming with Nathan this weekend about twenty times already. She just wanted to turn to Gigi and say 'Shut the fuck up!' - and Haley _hates _to swear.

"Yeah, you've told us." Brooke said bluntly, with a sarcastic smile on her face.

Haley tried to hide her laughter. She was grateful for Brooke's natural bitchiness in situations like this. Sometimes people needed to just be put in their place.

Peyton smirked also as Gigi's face fell.

"Oh, right." Gigi said, trying to recover. "Well I know that _everybody _else wanted him and _he_ chose _me_ so I just wanted to make sure nobody embarrassed themselves by asking him or something."

Peyton looked at Gigi with utter disbelief and craziness. Who was this girl kidding?

"Yeah well, if you're that secure in the fact that _he _asked _you _then you shouldn't be worrying about him shacking up with some other girl this weekend." Peyton said to Gigi, fed up with being nice.

Haley sat in between Brooke and Peyton in delight. She knew she'd chosen her friends well. Gigi frowned at Peyton, scrambling to find a reply as she looked over and saw Haley smiling. Gigi narrowed her eyes at Haley then got up and walked to the opposite side of the gym to start talking to the guys.

"Oh, thank god." Brooke said. "P. Sawyer, I hail you. You made her leave!"

"Somebody had to." Peyton replied as Haley nodded. "I actually felt myself getting dumber as I listened to her speak."

"Yeah, well you have her 2.4 GPA to thank for that." Haley said nonchalantly.

Brooke and Peyton gave her sideways looks. "What?"

"What?" Haley said, sitting up straight. "So I looked up some stuff. I can't figure out how the hell she got in here."

"Looked up some stuff?" Peyton asked with a smile. "Since when are people's GPA's just floating around on the internet?"

"Okay, looked up some files while that front desk lady wasn't watching." Haley said. "Same difference."

Brooke laughed. "That's my girl! Good to see I'm rubbing off on you Hales."

"You've been rubbing off her for months, Brooke." Peyton said a little too seriously, causing Haley to give her an inquisitive look. She didn't want to question what she meant though. She was too afraid of what Peyton would say.

Nathan pulled off his hoodie and dumped it on the side bleachers of the gym. Just as he bent down to grab his water bottle, he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see just about the last person he wanted to at this hour. Or at any hour really.

"Oh, hey Gigi." Nathan said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Or at least mildly friendly.

"Hey!"Gigi replied. "Where have you been?"

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked confused.

"Well, I've called you a couple times and you said you were going to James' party on Saturday night and you never showed." Gigi replied, still sounding annoyingly cheery.

Nathan frowned. Who was this girl? She was acting like some possessive girlfriend and they weren't even going out. Hell, he didn't even like her.

"Oh, yeah." Nathan said, trying to come up with some excuse. "My phone broke and I just didn't feel up to it the other night."

"Oh," Gigi said with a smile. "Well we'll make up for lost time this weekend then."

Nathan grimaced. "Yeah...okay, I have to go warm up. See ya."

"Bye!" Gigi called after him.

Nathan proceeded to grab a basketball and start shooting around with the others on the court while they waited for the coach to come out. The cheerleaders assembled on the side of the gym to start practising as Coach K made an appearance.

"Suicides!" The coach yelled without bothering to greet any of the boys. The team immediately put down the basketballs and began running up and down the court.

"Eugh," Brooke said with a disgusted face as she watched the boys run. "Thank god we're not guys. I couldn't deal with all that running or sweating."

"Neither." Haley agreed as she watched the boys continue to run up and down the court, bending down to touch the lines as they went. Nathan was ahead of the rest of them by a mile, but Haley tried not to notice. She averted her eyes to Cam who was running in the middle of the pack. He gave her a smile which seemed to be the best he could manage considering he was running suicides. Haley smiled back and gave him a small wave. She then focused her attention back on Jess who was instructing them on the next moves in their routine.

"Okay, now let's try that again from the top." Jess said to the girls.

They weren't allowed to play music in the gym while the boys were training so Jess called out the counts to the beat instead. As she began to count, the girls heard the booming voice of Coach K from the court again.

"Stop!" He shouted. "Lucas, Nathan. Choose teams, we're having a practise match. Whoever's on Nathan's team, shirts off and keep them on if you're on Lucas'. Quick!"

The team quickly split in two and did as they were instructed.

"That's what I like to see." Gigi said into another cheerleader's ear as she eyed off Nathan. The girls around her giggled.

"Girls!" Jess yelled, getting their attention. "Focus please. I know it's hard, but it's possible."

Haley smiled at Jess. She liked her. She was serious about cheerleading without being too serious. She also seemed to share her disdain for Gigi as well which helped.

The girls continued to run through their routine as the boys played their practise game. On the court, Jake tossed the ball to Nathan who began dribbling it around his feet. He saw that Cam was open but he didn't want to pass it to him. He didn't even want him on his team but he was the last one left so he had to take him. It wasn't that he was a bad player, Nathan just couldn't deal with anything affiliated with _her._ He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts out of his brain and focus back on who he was going to pass the ball to.

"Nathan!" Cam called out waving his arm.

Nathan rolled his eyes. Yes, I can see you dickhead.

He looked for an opening, getting frustrated with his team members.

"To Came, Nathan!" Coach K yelled.

Nathan groaned then threw it Cam's way. He couldn't have the coach thinking he wasn't as good as he was. Cam caught the ball and threw it to Jake, who was on the opposite side of the court. The side were the cheerleaders were practising. Simon, who was defending Jake, tried to tap the ball before Jake caught it but Jake grabbed it and pulled the ball back while Simon's hand was still on it, causing Simon to fall into Jake. The two boys fell over the side of the court and into the cheerleaders.

"Shit!" Brooke yelled as she was pushed over. Haley fell beside her, as well as Peyton, Gigi and Sarah.

The coach blew the whistle. "What the hell was that!"

Jake and Simon hastily got up and mumbled sorry to each other. They both turned to help the girls up.

"Wait," Jess said noticing Haley wasn't getting up. "Is Haley okay?"

Brooke quickly whipped her head around to see Haley beside her with her eyes shut.

"Shit!" Is she knocked out?" Brooke squealed in fear for her friend and kneeled down beside her.

"Haley! Haley, wake up!"

Peyton was by Haley's other side in a flash doing the same thing. Very quickly the cheerleaders crowded around as well as the basketball team.

On the court, Nathan had been standing in frustration after Simon and Jake fell for them all to get up so they could get on with the game. Although, as soon as he heard that head cheerleader say "Is Haley okay?" his ears pricked up. Nathan lifted his head up trying to see past everyone as to what was going on. As soon as he noticed her on the ground he rushed over.

Haley opened her eyes slowly hearing Brooke and Peyton's voices shouting her name. She saw all the cheerleaders and the basketball team above her as well as Coach K.

"Haley! She's opening her eyes!" Brooke said, with a sound of relief.

Haley tried to pick herself up off the floor. As she began to lift herself up, she felt a familiar rough hand grab her around the waist and lift her to her feet. Once standing, she looked to her side to the last person she was expecting. His blue eyes were so close to hers she could see every emotion running through them. He was worried. Haley became hyper aware of his hands on her body as she looked into his eyes in wonder. As soon as Nathan noticed her looking back at him, his eyes faded back to stone and he let go of her.

"Right, so everyone's fine now?" Nathan asked in an annoyed voice. "Can we get back to it then?"

He then ran back onto the court while everyone else stood looking at each other questioningly for a moment before parting ways. When Nathan picked her up off the ground, they were all confused but after he spoke they put it down to him wanting to get back to practise. Haley looked after Nathan as he ran back onto the court. Maybe he did just want to get on with practise but he was worried for a moment there. She saw it.

"Hey, you need to go the nurse." Coach K said to Haley. "You might have concussion, no more practise for you today."

Peyton and Brooke nodded and took Haley by the hands.

"Go on down," Jess said to them. "Don't worry about the rest of practise today."

"Thanks." Brooke said to Jess as her and Peyton walked Haley out.

"Are you okay?" Peyton asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah," Haley said drowsily, speaking for the first time since she fell. "I think so. My head just hurts a bit."

"Come on," Brooke said seriously. "Let's go to the nurse."

Brooke wasn't serious about a lot of things but when it came to her friends and their safety, she was fiercely protective. They were all she had and she cherished them. She gave Haley's a hand a squeeze as they walked down the corridor. "You'll be fine."

Haley looked in her full length mirror in her room later that day. She had a small concussion and the nurse advised that she rest so Peyton and Brooke had shut her in her room to sleep and weren't letting her out. She examined her head in the mirror. She had a small bump on her forehead that should go down in a couple of days. She sighed as she looked over the rest of her body. She was in a white singlet with her pyjama pants on and her long blonde hair was down and flowing over her shoulders. She began to stare at herself in the mirror, picking her features apart, trying to see what was different about her. Haley couldn't stop thinking about what Peyton had said before.

"_You've been rubbing off on her for months, Brooke."_

What had she meant by that? Haley knew she was different from the person she was last year. Looking in the mirror she listed everything that was different. She was blonder, thinner, her hair was longer, she more tanned and she wore more make-up. But Haley knew Peyton wasn't talking about the way she looked. Her physical changes were only to due to the changes that had occurred on the inside. They protected her.

Haley continued to stare at herself. She was nicer last year. She never had a bad word to say about anybody and there wasn't a single person she would ignore. Now she was bad mouthing Gigi every chance she got and passing people by in the hallways as if they were nothing. There were so many people she didn't even know the names of. Haley used to pride herself in high school on knowing everybody's names. It disgusted her that there were people that didn't bother to acknowledge others, and now she was one of them.

They weren't the only changes. She cared more about her school work last year. She smiled more last year. She was more carefree, more openly loving, she was quirkier. She was different to everybody else, now she blended. Most of all she was a lot less vain last year. When she would get dressed up she would look in the mirror and think "Yeah, I look okay." She would have things done the way she wanted them and that would be it. She would leave the house and go out and have fun. She never thought she was anything special to look at, she was just Haley. But now she would look in the mirror and admire herself. She was like Brooke in that way, she could point out the things that looked good about herself and say them out loud. She wasn't as direct about it as Brooke was but she still did it. As Haley looked at herself in the mirror now all she wanted to see was her dark hair and average clothes. Maybe she looked better now, but at least she liked the person she used to be.

Haley thought of Nathan picking her off the ground before and shut her eyes to stop the tears from coming. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she opened her eyes and continued to look in the mirror. She couldn't think about that. She couldn't feel good that he was worried, even if it was only for a second, because she knew it was bad. It was bad that he cared anything for her at all, he wasn't supposed to. He hated her. It was the way it was meant to be.

Haley took one more deep breath blinking away any final tears. She had to suck it up and stop feeling sorry for herself. This was who she was now. She ignored some people, she was vain, she liked going to parties and she was seeing Cam. This was who she _had_ to be now.

**Please Review :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Thank you so much for reviewing! Here's a long one for the delay.**

"Haley!"

Haley's eyes sprang open then winced at the harsh daylight beaming into her room from her window. Brooke was rushing into Haley's room. She rolled over to look at her alarm clock and saw that the time was 8:42 AM.

"Brooke, what the hell?" Haley asked before turning over. "We can sleep in today."

"No we can't!" Brooke replied hastily. "We have to pack!"

"I packed yesterday!" Haley whined from her bed. "You know, some of us get organised the day before we leave to avoid rushing about the next morning."

"Oh, well whatever!" Brooke replied hastily. "You have to get up anyway, the plane leaves at two and we have to be on the bus to the airport by twelve thirty."

Today was the day they left for the A.D.D. Weekend. All basketball players and cheerleaders attending were excused from classes for the day and were all on the same flight to Washington at 2 PM.

"Exactly, Brooke." Haley said. "Twelve thirty. That's like, almost four hours away! I can get a good two and a half more hours sleep and still have plenty of time to get ready."

"Yeah well, you're awake now so you might as well just help me pack then." Brooke smiled then zipped out of the room.

Haley groaned. _She totally had that planned all along._

In the middle of helping Brooke decide what shoes she should take, Haley heard Peyton's voice from the living room of their dorm.

"Hello?"

"In here." Haley replied. Peyton walked into the room with a white piece of paper in her hand.

"What's that?" Brooke asked as she eyed the piece of paper curiously.

"That girl from the squad Sarah just ran me down in the hallway to give it to me. It's 'The Room' list." Peyton replied, rolling her eyes.

"What?" Brooke immediately dropped what she was doing to snatch the piece of paper out of Peyton's hand.

"What's 'The Room' list?" Haley asked.

"The list of the room swaps between the boys and girls for this weekend." Peyton replied, obviously uninterested.

"Oh." Haley said as she felt her stomach churn. In the end, she had agreed to share a room with Cam this weekend but she didn't feel right about it at all. Haley looked at Peyton enviously. She had gotten a room to herself. There were more basketball players than there were cheerleaders attending the event, which meant that one of the boys got a room to himself. As Peyton was the only one out of all cheerleaders and basketball players who didn't want to room with anybody, she got the spare room while everybody else doubled up. Simon and Daniel off the basketball team couldn't find anyone to room with so they had to go together, which was lucky for Peyton who would have had to go with a guy if they had found a girl each. Haley could only wish that they could trade places.

"Wait, I don't get it." Brooke said, frowning at the piece of paper.

"The left hand side has the original room arrangement and the right hand side has what everybody is swapping into." Peyton explained. "The numbers next to everybody's names are the room numbers."

"So, am I in Room 316?" Brooke asked.

Peyton took the piece of paper from her and looked at it. "Yeah, Room 316 with Nick Stafford."

Brooke grinned. "Yay, perfect."

"And Haley," Peyton said, turning to the blonde sitting on the floor. "You're in Room 230 with Cameron Hutchings."

"Great." Haley replied with a fake smile.

"And I'm in Room 234 with myself." Peyton said as she plopped down on Brooke's bed, looking happy with herself. Haley hated her. Not really, but just for that moment, she kind of did. "Also, Sarah said that everyone has to go to their original rooms first and then swap later on because the chaperones check at the beginning."

"Okay, so what is my original room number?" Haley asked.

"Um," Peyton replied, searching the list. "Room 317."

Haley nodded. She tried to build up her mentality about the situation. It really wouldn't be so bad, she liked Cam and Cam liked her. They had been getting along really well lately. He was always coming over to the girls dorm at night armed with Chinese take away and DVD's. Haley hadn't seen a flaw yet. She really had to stop acting like this weekend was the end of the world. She had grown comfortable around Cam, they had kissed many more times since after Gigi's party which was a few weeks back now. Haley had even let him sleep over one night. Just to sleep, though. Haley snapped out of her thoughts, now set on making the most of the weekend.

"Can I see the list, Peyton?" Haley asked with a smile on her face. Peyton handed it over to her and Haley scanned over the numbers and names.

**THE ROOM LIST**

228. James Braden and Connor Dean.

229. Brandon Feen and Jack Gingerly.

230. Cameron Hutchings and Simon Halt.

231. Jake Jagielski and Harry Leech.

232. Daniel Pitch and Will Roberts.

233. Lucas Scott and Nathan Scott.

234. Nick Stafford

315. Jessica Aiken and Sarah Daniels.

316. Brooke Davis and Kristy Fitzgerald.

317. Haley James and Vanessa Lincoln.

318. Amy Niece and Kiara O'Brien.

319. Peyton Sawyer and Georgia Silveri.

320. Stacy Thatch and Kelly Walker.

**CHANGES**

228. Connor Dean and Stacy Thatch.

229. Brandon Feen and Jessica Aiken.

230. Cameron Hutchings and Haley James.

231. Harry Leech and Kristy Fitzgerald.

232. Daniel Pitch and Simon Halt.

233. Lucas Scott and Kiara O'Brien.

234. Peyton Sawyer

315. Sarah Daniels and Will Roberts.

316. Brooke Davis and Nick Stafford.

317. Vanessa Lincoln and Jack Gingerly.

318. Amy Niece and Jake Jagielski.

319. Georgia Silveri and Nathan Scott.

320. Kelly Walker and James Braden.

Haley tried not to let her eyes linger on who was going to occupy room 319. She tried to concentrate on the other names and numbers on the page but her eyes kept drifting back. 'Georgia Silveri and Nathan Scott.' Yuck. Well, at least she knew Gigi would annoy him all weekend.

"We better get going." Peyton said. "We have to be out the front of the bus in ten minutes."

Brooke's eyes widened in horror. "Quick, Haley! Throw those shoes in my bag!"

"Finally." Lucas said as he saw Nathan emerge from his room. "We have to leave in like, twenty minutes."

"Yeah, yeah." Nathan replied, only dressed in the blue basketball shorts he had slept in.

"Have you packed?" Lucas asked.

"Yep." Nathan replied as he looked for food in the fridge. "That bag by the door."

Lucas looked over to see a blue Ravens gym bag lying beside the front door.

"That has _all_ your stuff in it?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. My basketball uniform, a couple of pairs of pants and two shirts." Nathan replied. "What else do I need?"

"Uh, a toothbrush? Deodorant?" Lucas said tauntingly. "Shoes?"

"Oh, shit." Nathan said. "I'll get them in a second. Eating now."

As Nathan sat down to eat, Nick came through the front door.

"Hey guys, have you seen this?" Nick asked holding up a white sheet of paper.

"No, what is it?" Lucas asked.

"It's the list of room changes for this weekend. It was pinned up on the front door." Nick replied.

Nathan made a face as he took a bite out of his toast.

"Oh," Lucas said."Can I see?"

Nick nodded and handed him the sheet.

Lucas saw his name next to Kiara's and scrunched up his nose. Kiara was nice enough and she was definitely pretty but he couldn't help but wish Brooke or Peyton may have asked him. He saw Nick's name next to Brooke's and grimaced. He didn't want to think about that.

"What time do we have to leave again?" Nick asked as he grabbed his bag from his room.

"Uh, in a few minutes." Lucas replied. "Get dressed, Nate."

Nathan rolled his eyes then got himself off the couch. "Fine."

"Want to see the list, Nate?" Nick asked as Nathan was walking towards his bedroom.

"Nope." Nathan replied, slamming his door shut.

The cheerleaders, basketballers, gym coach and three chaperones were waiting in an extremely slow moving line to get on the plane.

"God, how hard can it be to scan a ticket and let somebody on board?" Brooke whined in reference to the flight attendant.

"I know." Peyton replied, readjusting her bag from her right shoulder to her left. "My arms are getting really sore."

"Mmm." Haley agreed, not really focused on the conversation but on the plane ticket in her hand. "Hey, what seat number are you guys?"

"Um," Peyton said as she looked down at her ticket. "20 A. You?"

"I'm 15 C." Brooke said, both puzzled and annoyed. "Why are we so far apart?"

"Well I'm 18 A so I'm guessing it's in alphabetical order." Haley replied, scanning her mind for who else had a last name ending with 'J'. She couldn't come up with anybody.

"No!" Brooke exclaimed. "I am NOT sitting next to Sarah Daniels. We're switching seats. I don't care."

"We might not be able to, Brooke." Peyton said.

"Sure we will. I've done it heaps of times. The flight attendants don't care." Brooke replied.

"No, but the people sitting in the seats might." Peyton said.

"Oh. Well who cares about them! They're moving whether they like it or not." Brooke said defiantly.

Haley smiled. Nothing worked Brooke up more than not getting her way.

"Okay, then who are you going to switch with then?" Peyton asked.

"It seems to be the weekend for switching." Haley observed.

Brooke ignored Haley's comment as she thought. "Well, I don't know. We'll just make whoever the two people in my row are switch with you two."

Peyton and Haley frowned.

"What, and make us look like the bitches who made the people who just got comfortable get up and move? I don't think so." Peyton replied. "Look, I'll sit next to Sarah okay. I don't mind her. Take my seat."

"But what if you're next to someone just as bad?" Brooke asked, not happy with any of the options she was being presented with. "Wait, you'd be sitting next to Gigi! Hell NO!"

"Dammit." Peyton said. "I was this close to getting away with that." She said to Haley, holding up her hand showing a tiny gap between her thumb and forefinger.

Haley laughed. "Brooke, take my seat. I'll take Peyton's and Peyton take Brooke's. I'll endure the wrath that is Gigi."

"Seriously, Haley?" Peyton asked, eyeing Haley questioningly. "It's okay, you don't have to do that."

"No, it's fine." Haley said. "It might give me the chance to finally tell her to shut the hell up."

"Yes, Tutor Girl!" Brooke squealed. In reality, Haley actually wanted to size Gigi up about this weekend. Although Haley knew that she didn't want to know what Gigi was planning for the hotel room with Nathan, she wanted to find out anyway.

"Quick then. Let's switch tickets before we get to the front of the queue." Haley said to the two others. The three switched tickets and formed a single file line just in time to have them scanned. Haley handed her ticket to the flight attendant and waited for the little green light to go off.

"Enjoy your flight, Miss Sawyer." The flight attendant said with a smile which Haley returned. Brooke giggled. She was like a child in the way that she still found switching names to be funny.

Haley entered the aircraft and started making her way down the aisle trying not to bump anybody with her bag while looking for Row 20. As she walked past Row 14 she noticed Jessica sitting down next to James Braden from the basketball team. At first she frowned, and then realised the university had obviously booked the seats for all of them together meaning it would go in the alphabetical order of everybody, not just the cheerleading team. Fear then struck Haley as she realised she probably wasn't sitting to Gigi.

_Oh God, what if it's someone worse! Not that it really could be._

She then scanned her brain for who she would be sitting next to – S. Haley stopped dead in her tracks as she looked ahead towards Row 20. There he was - her worst nightmare in Row 20. Raven haired, basketball shorts wearing, looking way too damn good for an aeroplane, guy who she should not be anywhere near. He was sitting on the window seat with a bored look on his face. Haley's horror minimised slightly when she noticed Lucas closing the overhead cabin and sitting down in the middle seat. She stared at the vacant seat next to the aisle that was waiting for her, almost taunting her with how bad the next five and a half hours would be.

"Would you keep moving?" An annoyed voice said from behind her.

Haley snapped back into reality and began to move. "Sorry!"

Nathan's head snapped up at the sound of _her_ irritating voice as he watched her move down the aisle. He noticed her slowing down as she approached his row and then a feeling of intense discomfort rose within him as he noticed her focusing on the empty seat next to Lucas.

_No. This cannot be happening._

Haley tried to focus her eyes purely on the seat but couldn't help but look up to see the look on his face when he noticed her coming to sit down. Their eyes met and Nathan's were wide, part in disbelief and part in disgust. Haley quickly looked away and stumbled as she tried to lift her bag into the overhead locker. Lucas, who had been unaware of Haley coming over the whole time due to him reading a book, looked up when he heard her.

"Haley?" He asked in shock. _Oh God. _Lucas thought. _This is not going to go down well at all. _"You're sitting here?"

"Yeah." Haley said, trying to make her face land on some kind of neutral expression. She didn't really think it was working. Especially since Nathan looked like steam was coming out of his ears as his eyes were glued on her.

"But I thought it was in alphabetical order?" Lucas asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, it is. Or was." Haley said as she awkwardly sat down. "This is supposed to be Peyton's seat but we switched."

"Why would you switch to _here_?" Nathan asked with an intensely low and strained voice.

Haley blinked at him a couple of times. She wasn't going to let him think he was getting under her skin.

"Because Brooke wanted to switch, so we all switched with each other's seats." Haley replied calmly, but with a touch of annoyance to make him realise she wasn't going to put up with his bullshit. "I thought I was going to be sitting next to Gigi."

"Since when are you two friends?" Nathan asked annoyed, but slightly alarmed. He knew that Haley wouldn't be able to stand anybody like Gigi, that's half the reason he picked her, so he was surprised. However, he was alarmed more so because of the fact that he was supposed to be rooming with Gigi this weekend and Haley would know that. Even though he hated her and she already knew about it, Nathan didn't want Haley to know the details of what occurs this weekend. He wouldn't be able to handle it.

"We're not." Haley said bluntly. "Brooke and Peyton were the ones who wanted to swap, I just went along with it because I didn't care."

Nathan scrunched up his face at her trying to come up with a good comeback. "Well, as if you wouldn't think about us being here."

"I thought all the cheerleaders would be sitting together, you dickhead." Haley quickly replied, losing her temper.

Nathan's eyes widened. Haley certainly never used to talk like that. "Well, once again the smart girl is really stupid, isn't she?" He replied, knowing that would make her want to scream. Nothing like a reference to the past to make Haley go crazy.

Haley's eyes darkened and her jaw set as she looked like she was going to explode.

"Okay! Guys, seriously." Lucas said just before Haley could open her mouth. "Let's just try and not fight the whole time, okay? Is that so much to ask? There are about 200 other people on board here who really don't want to hear you two screaming at each other for the next five and a half hours. Me being one of them. "

Haley and Nathan continued to make death stares at each other.

Haley nodded. "Yep, that's fine. Sorry Luke." She then broke eye contact with Nathan and turned around facing the front of the plane in her seat. Nathan did the same in a huff.

Lucas scrunched up his face as he put his head in his hands. This was going to be a long flight.

Nathan was frustrated and angry. And uncomfortable. These stupid plane seats were way too small. The university couldn't have sprung for first class tickets? His parents had sure donated enough. He leaned against the window with his headphones over his ears, trying his best to drown out the noise around him so he wouldn't burst with anger. They had only been on this aeroplane for two damn hours yet it felt like it had been about fifteen. After the initial awkwardness and ten minute period of silence, Lucas and Haley had started talking about some book Haley had to read for some class. Once they finally had discussed every god damn thing that can be discussed about 300 pages of words they moved onto the riveting subject of Karen's Cafe. Then this weekend's basketball game. Then the cheerleading routine. Now they were up to reliving past memories that seemed oh so hilarious from the amount of laughter coming from beside Nathan. He wanted to curl up and die. Or maybe just jump off the aeroplane. Anything to get him away from the sound of her voice, her laughter and her happiness. God, it was irritating.

"What about that time Skills fell into the lake beside the rivercourt?" Lucas chuckled.

"Oh my god, he stunk for weeks!" Haley replied, laughing too. It felt good to talk and laugh with Lucas like this. It had been too long. She missed her best friend. It also helped that he was keeping her mind off he-who-should-not-be-named who was sitting beside him.

"Yeah, well you're just lucky it didn't happen to you!" Lucas said. "Remember how you tried to catch that basketball and almost fell in? You're so lucky Nath-". Lucas stumbled on his words. In the moment, he'd forgotten all about the past and the awkwardness surrounding them.

Haley stiffened. "Yeah. I remember."

Nathan had had enough.

"Move, I need to go to the bathroom." He said in an irritated huff as he pushed past Lucas and Haley.

Lucas and Haley's eyes followed Nathan until he reached the restroom.

"Sorry Hales. I totally forgot about –" Lucas began.

"Don't be." Haley smiled. "I did too."

Lucas returned the smile and tried to study his best friends face. She used to be a lot easier for him to read. Haley used to be very simple with her feelings, she was either happy or sad or bouncy or tired. But now all her emotions were complicated and hidden, like you needed some kind of secret code to see them. All Lucas knew was that he didn't have it.

Nathan exited the plane restroom and immediately had to grab onto the walls to keep his balance. The plane had just suddenly jolted. Just as he was about to take another step, it jolted again and his hand made a loud thud against the restroom door. He heard a beeping sound come from above his head.

"Hello Passengers." The Pilot said from the speakers. "You may have noticed the seatbelt sign has been switched on as we are heading through some turbulence. Please don't be alarmed but all passengers must return to their seats immediately with their seatbelts on and tray tables stowed."

Nathan rolled his eyes. _Great._

He quickly rushed back down the aisle and saw Haley clutching Lucas' hand. She hated plane turbulence. It annoyed Nathan that he remembered that about her, but it annoyed him even more that he cared.

"Quickly, back into your seat." A flight attendant said as she tried to hurry Nathan into his seat.

"Sorry, it's the window one. It's hard to get to." Nathan replied as he approached Row 20.

"Well, the two of you can just move along and let him sit in the aisle seat. We need everybody to sit down immediately." The flight attendant said to Lucas and Haley before rushing off to take her own seat.

Lucas and Haley quickly shared an uneasy glance before scooting over. Nathan stared at his awaiting seat for a moment before sitting down.

_Should've just kept my mouth shut. Why did I tell her I was sitting on the window seat? Why?_

Haley tried to get comfortable in Lucas' previously warmed seat between the two Scott brothers but it was physically impossible. Combining the fact that the bane of her existence was rubbing shoulders with her and that the plane was constantly jolting up and down was certainly not a good mix for Haley. The plane stopped moving for a few moments and Haley breathed a sigh of relief. Until she suddenly felt the plane take a huge drop, leaving her stomach 50 feet in the air above her. She snapped her eyes shut and instantly squeezed onto the hands of the two boys beside her. They both squeezed back, but after a moment Haley felt Nathan's hand go limp as she clutched onto it. When Haley felt the drop end, she remained silent with her eyes closed waiting for another jolt but no more came. Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief and opened her eyes. As soon as she did, she realised what she was doing and brought both her hands back down to her lap.

"Sorry." She mumbled to the both of them.

Lucas smiled at her. "It's fine."

Nathan just stared straight ahead with an unchanged expression on his face. Haley took a deep breath, put her earphones in her ears and shut her eyes. She needed to pretend she was somewhere other than here.

Finally, they had all arrived in Washington. Lucas, Haley and Nathan had all practically sprinted off the plane without saying a single word to each other as soon as the seat belt sign went off.

"Tutor Girl, oh my god." Haley heard Brooke whisper from behind her. "I'm so sorry! Was it terrible?"

Haley turned to see Brooke's curious yet apologetic wide eyes. "Pretty much."

"Haley!" Peyton almost yelled across the airport. "I'm so sorry, I'm so so so sorry!"

"It's fine." Haley said. "I survived didn't I? Who were you guys next to?"

"Jake." Brooke replied. "I forgot how nice he was."

Peyton smiled slightly, although a little disappointed she didn't switch with Haley instead of Brooke.

"I was in between Sarah and Connor. Wasn't so bad. Sarah's pretty annoying though." Peyton said.

"You're telling me." Brooke said in a knowing voice.

"Seriously, you two are complaining after I just got put next to _him?_" Haley asked.

"Very true." Peyton replied. "Sorry, really. I had no idea. Why didn't we think that the boys would be with us?"

"Because we're stupid?" Brooke said, trying to make light of the situation. Haley grimaced. Yeah, stupid. Just like Nathan had said.

"Well, maybe you are Brooke but..." Peyton began, laughing at Brooke's expression as they all piled onto the bus that was taking them to their hotel.

"Okay!" Coach K yelled in the foyer of the hotel to the swarm of college students around him. "I'm going to call out each of your names once and once only. Come up and get your key, then go to your room and we will be coming around to check on you all in an hour. There will be no misdemeanour or idiocy in this process. It's already eight thirty at night and I'm tired. So everybody get to your room and be there when we check. If my time is wasted, your asses are going home."

Everybody nodded, while a few of the basketballers smirked to each other. A typical Coach K speech. Once everyone had gotten their room keys and the Coach and chaperones had left, Gigi gathered everybody up.

"Room changes at ten thirty. Don't be late or stuff it up." She said to the group. Most people smiled and nodded then parted ways.

"Okay girlies. See you tomorrow!" Brooke said to Haley and Peyton, pulling them in for a hug. "Peyton, don't have too much of a depressing night all by yourself. Seriously, I don't know what the hell you were thinking with all these fine boys around."

Peyton rolled her eyes. There were some things Brooke would never understand.

"And Tutor Girl," Brooke said, turning to Haley. "Hope you having a romping night and make sure you tell me _everything _tomorrow."

Brooke winked at her before giving them both a final goodbye and heading off with Kristy to her first room.

Haley gave Brooke a half smile as she left.

"You know, you don't have to do this you know." Peyton said, observing Haley's expression. "You can just come bunk with me. Girls weekend and stuff."

Haley quickly smiled properly. "No, Peyton it's fine. I want to do this."

Peyton eyed Haley uneasily. "Okay, but just call me if you change your mind."

"Thanks." Haley said gratefully, giving Peyton a hug before she left with Gigi.

"I know I only have to spend the next hour and a half with her, but pray for me anyway." Peyton whispered into Haley's ear.

Haley laughed. "Will do."

Peyton walked off with Gigi and Haley then turned to see Vanessa waiting for her. "Sorry, let's go."

Vanessa nodded and they headed towards the elevators together.

10:26pm. Time seemed to be whizzing by. Only four minutes till the boys started moving.

"So, Haley," Vanessa started. "You excited about rooming with Cam? He's so hot, you're really lucky."

Haley gave her a half hearted smile. Vanessa was nice, but pretty vapid. There was never much to talk about with her.

"Yeah, sure. Who are you rooming with?" Haley thought she better ask out of politeness.

"Jack." Vanessa replied with a smile. "It was kind of last minute but he's cute. Me and him actually have this room together ."

"Him and I." Haley corrected out of habit.

"Sorry?" Vanessa asked.

"Oh, um. I meant cool." Haley smiled, covering up her nerdiness. She needn't be reminded of her correcting days. "Jack's nice."

The clock reached 10:30pm. "Okay, well I better go." Haley smiled. "You, uh, have fun with Jack."

"I will." Vanessa smiled, practically rushing Haley out the door.

When out in the corridor, Haley saw Stacy, Peyton and Jessica all coming out of their rooms too. They all had to move down to the second floor. They all joined together and waited by the elevator. As the buzzer went off, the elevator doors opened to reveal Simon and Brandon stepping out.

Stacy smiled at them. "Have fun guys."

Obviously she'd forgotten Simon was rooming with Daniel because they couldn't find girls to partner up with.

The four of them got into the elevator and got off at the second floor. As they got off, a few more guys were waiting to go up to the third. They each dispersed to their separate rooms, Peyton giving Haley one last reassuring smile before entering into her room.

Haley took a deep breath outside Room 230, then swiped her key card and entered. She heard the tap running in the bathroom and saw a blue suitcase lying on the ground. Cam was already here. She smiled then rested her bag down beside his. As she did so, she heard him coming out of the bathroom.

"Haley? What are you doing here?" Haley heard a deep voice say from behind her, that was certainly not Cam's.

Haley quickly spun around. "Jake? What do you mean? This is my room with Cam. 230. What are you doing here?"

Jake frowned. "No, this is my room with Amy. Room 230." He said showing her his key.

"What? That doesn't make sense." Haley said, puzzled as she looked down at her own key. She pulled 'The Room List' out of her pocket. "Look, here. Room 230 – Cameron Hutchings and Haley James."

Jake looked even more puzzled than he did before. He went over to his bag and pulled out a white sheet of paper. "Look on mine, it says Room 230 – Amy Niece and Jake Jagielski."

Haley looked down at Jake's sheet in surprise. Then it hit her. When they got on the elevator Simon had been getting off at the third floor, which was the girls floor. If he was supposed to be rooming with Daniel he should have stayed on the second floor where all the guys were supposed to be. Somebody had given the boys and the girls two different lists.

"We've gotten different lists." Haley said, stating the obvious. "Hang on, I'll go check with the others."

Haley walked out into the hall and looked to see if anybody else was outside. Just as she saw a door beginning to open, she heard a booming voice from behind.

"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing?"

Haley turned around startled to see Coach K staring down at her with fierce eyes.

"Um, sorry I was just..." Haley scrambled, trying to find the right words to say.

"You were just what?" The coach asked. "This is the boys floor young lady."

The coach looked inside her room. "Jagielski! "

"Hi Coach." Jake said nervously, jumping up from the bed.

"Get your things out of here girl, and get back to your right room." Coach K said to Haley viciously. "I'll deal with you in the morning Jagielski."

"Yes coach." Jake replied, giving a sorrowful glance towards Haley.

"Where's the boy who was supposed to be in here with you? He hasn't switched too has he?" The Coach demanded before he left.

"Uh, I was in here alone." Jake lied, not wanting anybody else to get in trouble. "I had the spare room. I just invited Haley over. Nobody else has moved."

Luckily for Jake, the coach was too tired to follow up his statement. "Fine, get to bed."

Haley was rushing out the door with her bag, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Hurry up, missy." The coach said to her. "And don't even think about trying to come back down here. I'll be guarding this hallway all night."

Haley nodded then quickly rushed over to the elevator. She could feel the coach's eyes on her until she got inside. She quickly pushed the Level 3 button, praying Vanessa and Jack weren't already having sex so she could come inside. Unfortunately for her, when she got to the door of Room 317 the sounds that were coming from within weren't promising. _God, way to get a jump on things guys._

Haley heard footsteps coming from down the hall and panicked, quickly rushing to the door next to her. She couldn't hear anything from inside so she banged on the door praying somebody would let her in. Haley heard the footsteps getting closer. The door of Room 319 swung opened and Haley rushed inside, slamming it shut before she even had the chance to look at who had opened it for her.

"I'm sorry, I got caught and needed a room and – " Haley started to explain, then stopped as she looked up and saw all too familiar electric blue eyes staring down at her.

_This isn't happening._

**Please Review :)**

**Also, I haven't decided on who Lucas/Brooke/Peyton should be with yet but I want to have by the end of next chapter so please leave any last minute requests. Thanks guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Thanks for the reviews, you guys make my day and I'm really glad you are enjoying the story :) So I've decided on the Lucas pairing although you won't find out this chapter. I've tried to please as many people as possible, but anyway you'll find out in Chapter Seven. Anyway, on with the Naley. This isn't a very long chapter but I think you'll like it...**

_Haley heard footsteps coming from down the hall and panicked, quickly rushing to the door next to her. She couldn't hear anything from inside so she banged on the door praying somebody would let her in. Haley heard the footsteps getting closer. The door of Room 319 swung opened and Haley rushed inside, slamming it shut before she even had the chance to look at who had opened it for her._

"_I'm sorry, I got caught and needed a room and – " Haley started to explain, then stopped as she looked up and saw all too familiar electric blue eyes staring down at her._

_This isn't happening._

Five minutes earlier...

Nathan walked into Room 319 expecting Gigi to pounce on him. To his surprise, waiting was an empty room. He looked around, behind the curtains, in the bathroom, just in case she was playing some stupid game but she wasn't. Nathan frowned. He had expected her to have rushed here all too eager and excited. _Oh well, _he thought. _Just means I get a break before she arrives._

Nathan lay down on the large queen size bed occupying the centre of the room, picking up the remote for the television and beginning to flick through the channels. When he finally found a channel replaying an NBA game, he heard a banging coming from the other side of the wall closely followed by some girl's extremely loud moans. _Great. Obviously the others didn't waste any time._

Nathan tried to ignore the noises and focus back on the TV. _Maybe Gigi's sick and not coming. Yeah that's probably it, she's been struck by some disgusting illness and can't get out of bed meaning I get the room to myself for at least the rest of the night. _Nathan knew this wasn't the truth, but he was trying to convince himself of it anyway. _Please, please, please let her be sick._

Just as he thought so, Nathan heard a heavy pounding on the door. _Damn it._

Nathan sighed deeply, then picked himself off the bed and dragged his feet towards the door. The banging on the other side was incessant and it was making him aggravated. _God, she's about two minutes late and acting like it's the end of the world or something. _Nathan took a final deep breath before swinging the door open. Before he even got the chance to see who it was on the other side, Nathan saw a flash of blonde hair fly into his room and slam the door. Nathan blinked, trying to get a hold of what was happening. The instant his eyes focused on the girl he felt himself stiffen. She wasn't facing him, but he knew exactly who she was.

"I'm sorry, I got caught and needed a room and –" The blonde's voice cut off as she turned and locked eyes with him. Her expression quickly went from flustered and apologetic to shocked and mortified. He saw her eyes grow wide as she stared up at him, not knowing what to say. They both stared at each other for what felt like hours but in actuality was only about ten seconds, neither knowing what was happening or what to do.

"Um," Haley fumbled, trying to formulate an explanation. "Sorry, I didn't realise this was your room. I just –"

"_Why_ are you here?" Nathan asked, trying to remain calm.

"I just told you, I didn't know this was _your _room. If you hadn't cut me off I –" Haley began.

"I heard you. I want to know _why _ you are here, instead of in your room with your little boyfriend making use of time." Nathan cut her off again, his blood boiling.

"Like I was about to explain," Haley responded harshly, letting him know she didn't appreciate being cut off. "I was sent to the wrong room and when I went to find out what happened, Coach K caught me and sent me back to this floor. I panicked when I heard footsteps and the noises from my original room didn't sound like anybody would have rushed to open the door for me so I knocked on this one instead."

"More like bashed on this one." Nathan replied, Haley just giving him a glare in response. "What do you mean you were sent to the wrong room?"

"Jake was in my room. I think the boys and girls were given two different lists because his one and my one said different things." Haley explained, and then suddenly remembered the fact that there was presumably somebody else in the room with him. "Who is in here with you?"

"Nobody." Nathan replied. "I came in and it was empty."

Haley frowned and walked further into the room, looking around.

"That wasn't an invitation to come further in." Nathan grunted, Haley ignoring his comment as she put her bags down.

"You must have gotten what was supposed to be Peyton's room." Haley observed. "She was supposed to have a room to herself."

"Great." Nathan said. "So you can leave now we've got that sorted out and I can go back to having a room to myself."

Haley threw him a look of disgust. "And where do you suppose I go?"

"I don't care." Nathan answered. "But you are not staying here."

"I don't want to be stuck in here with you just as much as you don't want to be stuck in here with me." Haley replied angrily. "Actually, I probably don't want to do this a lot more than you do."

Nathan snorted. "Are you fucking kidding me? This is worse than my worst nightmare. You are _not_ staying in here. Go knock on somebody else's door. Sleep in the corridor for all I care."

"If you don't want me in here so badly, you go knock on somebody else's door or sleep in the corridor." Haley shot back, not taking any of his bullshit. "I am _not _going back out there to be yelled at again. I'm the girl, I get to sleep in the bed and you can make your own arrangements!"

Nathan felt like he was on fire. "No fucking way! I was in here first, you have to leave _now._ This is just like you Haley, not wanting any of the blame to be placed on you. Not wanting to get in trouble. Well tough because you are going to. I don't care if you're a girl, I don't care about you at _all._ Don't make the mistake of thinking I do." He gritted out.

Haley stared at him for a moment, trying not to show him the impact that his words had on her.

"I am _not _leaving." She huffed out, determined. Haley dragged her bags next to the bed and sat down on it, angrier than she'd ever been. "You don't care about me? Well I can't even put the words 'you' and 'care' in the same sentence that's how little I feel for you. So you are the one that can leave, but if you won't then I don't even care if you stay in here. I won't notice, it wouldn't be hard to not see you with your lifeless personality and cold body. You'd just be empty space I'd have to avoid. You'd be nothing. You mean _nothing _to me."

Haley felt her heart throbbing and her tears drying at the back of her eyes. This wasn't the time to cry or get upset. She hated him. She felt the hatred and built up anger inside of her pour out as she spoke.

Nathan's expression remained unchanged as he stared at her. Speaking wasn't an option right now, because he knew the second he tried to he would start yelling and spilling out all the emotions he spent all his time trying to hide from her. The girl sitting in front of him with the honey gold hair and the dark aura surrounding her that never used to be there. He hated it, her hated her. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. _She _wasn't this person, but somehow he had made her like this.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Nathan whipped around and stormed out of the room leaving his bags behind. He just needed to get out of there; he didn't care if he was caught. Nathan stormed down the hallway and got into the lift, riding it to the rooftop terrace.

As the doors opened, Nathan felt the icy air hit his cheeks and he took a deep breath as he stepped out into it. All he had on was a white cotton t-shirt and a pair of dark tracksuit pants. Nathan shivered as he looked out over the lights of Washington, thinking back to the last time Haley and him had had a fight like this.

"_You're going to Duke!" Nathan boomed as he came storming into her apartment. "After everything you have put me through this year, after all your speeches about how I'm destroying you, you decide to follow me to the place I've been dreaming of going all my life. A place where I'd always thought I'd get to and be happy. Really, Haley?"_

_Haley's eyes bugged out as she stood in her kitchen holding a box of Mac and Cheese. She knew this was coming. It was just strange that he was talking to her, even if he was yelling. He had just spoken more words to her than he had in the last six months combined._

"_My decision had nothing to do with you." She replied calmly but firmly._

"_Oh, really?" Nathan yelled. "So it just slipped your mind that that's where I was heading, did it?"_

_Haley stared back at him, unsure of what to say. He watched her expression, waiting for some sort of indication as to what she was going to reply with. He took in her presence. Her dark brown eyes contrasting with her long straight golden hair that flowed over her shoulders. Her cheerleading tracksuit, that showed the white singlet she was wearing underneath at the top and exposed an inch of her skin between her pants and her jacket. Skin that was completely bare, with no number markings on the back. Nothing he saw resembled Haley and it only made him angrier."Are you going to answer me?"_

"_It's a great school and I wanted to go there." Haley replied defiantly, telling the truth in that statement but going on to lie through the skin of her teeth. "Don't make the mistake of thinking it has anything to do with you. Of course I knew you were going to go there, it almost made me reject the schools acceptance letter. But I was looking over all the acceptance letters I'd gotten in the mail and realised the school I wanted to go to was Duke, and I wasn't going to let the fact that _you _were going there ruin my education. Trust me, I wish you weren't going there. You've taken enough from me already and all I've wanted for this entire school year is to be away from you. College is a big place Nathan, if I don't want to see you, I won't. You can walk right by me and I won't notice because I won't be looking for you. By the time this summer is over, I won't care about you at all. I promise you that."_

Nathan shut his eyes out of frustration, trying to suppress the memory. At least she had kept her promise. A mixture of anger, jealousy and betrayal were swirling around in his stomach. He was so mad and he didn't know how to control it. He knew exactly why he was so angry, but he didn't want to confront it. He wanted to believe that he had made progress, that he was over it and that nothing could touch him. He was Nathan Scott. He was a god. He did _not _care.

Nathan punched the terrace wall beside him as he let out a groan. He placed both his hands against the wall, hanging his head to the ground as he breathed heavily. He felt raindrops stars to fall on the back of his neck but didn't care to move. Nathan just stayed in the same position, wallowing in anger and forced hatred of the girl downstairs. The rain started pouring down, soaking Nathan to the bone but he still didn't move. _I hate her, I hate her. _Nathan thought over and over again, forcing out all the real emotions that were trying to enter his mind. He continued to breathe heavily in the same position, repeating the words over and over again trying to convince himself that he was strong enough to keep all his feelings out like he always did. But they had been building up for way too long and he had been pushing them out for such a long time that they defeated him.

_I hate that I don't hate her at all._

Nathan's head snapped up and he marched towards the lift doors, knowing exactly where he was going and that it was exactly what he should not be doing.

As soon as Nathan left the room, Haley felt tears immediately fall from her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had spoken to him where she hadn't lied. Actually, even that was a lie. She could remember the very last time she had been completely honest with him and it was almost a year ago.

"_Why are you here?" He gritted out at her with his back turned, not wanting to look her in the eye._

"_Because I wanted to explain..." Haley began, reaching up to place her hand on his shoulder but he moved before she could touch him._

"_Explain what, Haley?" Nathan asked, turning around to face her, pain etched into his face. "Because I'm pretty sure what you _want _to explain, I definitely don't _want _to hear."_

"_Nathan, please...I –" Haley felt the tears welling up in her eyes. Were they ever going to stop fighting? Was he ever going to look at her again without looking like he'd seen death?_

"_Please, what Haley?" Nathan asked. "What could you possibly have to ask of me now?"_

_Haley locked eyes with Nathan as she stood a few paces back from him._

"_Please...I love you."_

Haley gulped at the memory, letting even more tears slide down her cheeks then quickly wiping them away. _No, _she thought to herself. _No, there is no more crying over this. I have been over that for a long time now. It's for the best. _

Haley reassured herself. It was okay, she didn't need to feel bad. He hated her and she hated him right back, she had to stop forgetting that.

As Haley wiped the final tears from her eyes, it was her turn to hear a pounding at the door. She frowned, puzzled as to who it could be. For a moment she was frightened it was Coach K coming to check up on her. She walked towards the door and turned the handle. On the other side was a dripping Nathan. His hands were placed either side of the door, holding himself up as he leant inwards. His raven black hair was shining with water droplets dripping down onto the ground from it, as well as many sliding down the sides of his shimmering face. He was breathing hard. She could see his muscles contracting through his almost see-through soaked white t-shirt. She looked up at him with bewilderment and confusion in her eyes to see him looking at her with the same anger that had been surrounding him for the past year, but something was different. He still looked like he wanted to kill her, but the disgust was gone from his eyes.

Before Haley even had the chance to register what that meant, Nathan lifted his hands away from either side of the door and took a giant step towards her. Without pausing for a moment, Nathan cupped her face in his hands and brought her lips crashing into his. He kicked the door closed behind him, removing her hands from her face to lift her off the ground and he felt her wrap her legs around his waist instantly. The second he started kissing her, Haley stopped thinking. Screw pretending. At least for tonight.

**Please tell me what you think :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Hey guys! So sorry for the delay, real life has been getting in the way a lot lately. There are a couple of hints in this chapter as to who Lucas will be with so don't miss them! Not the most exciting chapter, but it is necessary to the story and next chapter is going to be a big one! Enjoy :)**

The harsh sound of the hotel alarm woke Haley in a fright. She quickly shook her head, trying to wrap her thoughts around the morning. Rubbing her eyes, she shut off the alarm and looked at the empty space beside her. Events from last night came rushing back into her head.

_Oh My God._

Quickly, the sinking feeling in her heart descended and enveloped her stomach. No wonder she was so tired, she had spent practically all night tossing and turning. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was 8:01AM.

Springing out of bed, Haley ran over to her suitcase and quickly changed into clothing suitable to wear for breakfast. Coach K had arranged for them all to have breakfast together at exactly 8:15AM. As she pulled a plain white t-shirt over head, Haley noticed that _his_ suitcase was still in the room. She stared at it for a few moments before snapping herself out of her trance.

_Just don't think about it, Haley._

Haley quickly fixed her hair in the mirror and put on some light make up to make herself look somewhat presentable. She then grabbed the room key and headed out the door, intent on finding Peyton and Brooke. Not that she had any idea what room they would be in.

Just as Haley shut the door to her room, she heard a deep voice from behind her.

"Haley!"

Haley whipped her head around, giving a half hearted smile to Lucas. "Hey."

"I heard Coach K caught you and Jake." Lucas began, looking worried. "What happened? Where did you go?"

"Um, well I basically just banged on every door until someone let me in." Haley lied, hoping he wouldn't ask whose room she had been let into. "But how did you know about me and Jake?"

"Oh, well you know your cheer captain, Jessica?"

"Yeah." Haley nodded.

"Yeah, well she came to my room by accident and we got a call from Stacy saying not to move because she'd seen Coach K yelling at you from the hallway." Lucas replied. "Sorry that it had to be you Hales. If you had just waited a second longer, somebody else would have been out there checking what was happening."

Haley grimaced, then shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, oh well. Might as well have been me if it was going to be someone. Did you find out what happened with the lists and stuff?"

"Kind of." Lucas said, before going on to explain. "Apparently the girls had made a different list first but had to change it because they ended up with three people in one room and two people by themselves or something. Anyway, Sarah printed off the wrong one and gave it out to the guys and, well, here we are."

Haley nodded. _That made sense as to why Nathan was by himself._

"So, did you have to spend the night with Jessica?" Haley asked.

"Yeah." Lucas replied. "It wasn't that bad though. She's pretty nice and we just played Scrabble the whole time. Turns out she's a total nerd like us too."

Haley smiled. "I knew I liked her."

Lucas threw his arm around her shoulder. "It's good to see you smile, Hales. I've missed it."

Haley glanced up at him as they walked towards the lift together. "I smile. I smile all the time."

"Yeah, but they're not real smiles." Lucas replied with a knowing grin. "You're forgetting how well I know you, James."

Haley gave him a soft smile as she leant into Lucas. She was grateful to have him and she did miss him a lot. They hadn't been able to see each other as much since _it _happened.

They got into the lift and headed down towards the ground floor.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, noise filled the air. Lucas and Haley walked into the buffet breakfast room where most people were seated already.

Haley quickly glanced around, checking to see if _he_ was here. He wasn't. Haley sighed in relief.

"Tutor Girl!" She heard a raspy voice screech from beside her.

Brooke bounced up to Haley, eyes filled with curiosity. Before Haley could blink, Peyton was by her side also.

"Oh my god, I heard what happened." Brooke said. "Poor you!"

Just as Haley was about to respond, Brooke cut her off. "But also poor me! I was stuck in a room with Will Roberts trying to feel me up the whole night."

Brooke made a disgusted face. "Seriously, it's like he didn't even care that he was supposed to be with Stacy."

"I don't think any of them really cared who they got paired with as long as it was a girl." Peyton stated bluntly.

"Apparently the same applies for some of the girls." Haley added. "I heard some pretty interesting noises coming through my wall last night."

"Ew, what a slut!" Brooke exclaimed, then laughed at herself. "Hey, now I know what it's like when people talk about me!"

Haley and Peyton laughed.

"Where did you go last night, Hales?" Peyton asked.

Haley didn't hear the question. She was too distracted, looking around the tables to see if a certain raven haired boy with a cloud of anger surrounding him was sitting down. He wasn't.

"Haley?" Brooke asked, grabbing Haley's attention.

"Sorry, what?" Haley asked.

"Where did you go last night? After Coach K told you to go back to your room?" Peyton asked again.

"Um, well..."

_Haley let all her rational thoughts shut off as soon as he started kissing her. It didn't stop her heart from beating a million miles an hour though, and she was sure he could feel it. She wanted to feel his heart, to see if it was beating like hers was. She was hoisted up around his waist, with his arms secure around her. She removed her hands away from his face to lift up his water soaked shirt and pull it over his head. She did it smoothly and quickly, like no time had passed at all since the last time she had done so. She held her hand up to the middle of his toned chest, feeling his pulse thumping underneath his damp skin. She couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips as she kissed him._

_Nathan lowered her down onto the bed, never breaking contact with her lips. Deep down, Haley knew it was because the second they stopped and had a moment to think, he would be out of the room – and he really wanted to be in there. They continued kissing ferociously, like it was the last chance they would ever have to do so again. _

_Nathan reached for the hem of her shirt, and while he did so he started tracing a number with his finger on her lower back. He knew there was nothing there anymore, but old habits die hard. As soon as she realised what he was doing, Haley was pulled back into reality and felt herself go cold._

"Well, what?" Brooke asked impatiently.

"Well the noises I heard were actually coming from my original room so I knocked on the door of the room next to mine." Haley explained, trying to decide whether or not she was going to tell them the truth of the next part of the story.

"Who was in there?" Peyton asked.

"Nobody." Haley lied, deciding it was best not to tell anybody the truth about this. "Coach K ended up letting me into that room because he has a key to them all. It must have been Peyton's loner room."

"What!" Peyton yelled. "So basically we switched places."

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, slightly confused.

"I was with Cam." Peyton replied. "So while you got _my _room all to yourself, I was making delightfully awkward conversation with your boyfriend."

_Oh, that kind of switched places._

"He's not my boyfriend." Haley stated. "And sorry. But there were worse people you could have been put with."

"True." Peyton nodded. "He really does like you, Haley."

Haley smiled. "I know. I like him too."

Peyton nodded, not quite believing her. "Good. Because we spent the whole night talking about you and he kept asking me about where he should take you to dinner and what he can do to make you like him more."

Haley felt horrible. Cam deserved better than her. He was nice and going to all this effort for her, and he didn't even think that she liked him back.

"Don't worry, Peyton." Haley replied. "I like him."

"Okay, well now that we've got that sorted, can we get some food?" Brooke butted in. "I'm starving, there is like, no food in these hotel rooms."

The girls filled their plates up and sat down along the large table set up for them. Once again, Haley looked around to see if Nathan had entered the room and once again, he hadn't.

"Anyone seen Scott?" Coach K's voice boomed across the room.

Lucas looked up at the Coach curiously.

"Not you." The coach replied, eyeing Lucas. "The darker Scott. My star player who obviously thinks he's too good to come and join us for breakfast."

Haley tried not to smile. It was funny because it was true. It was just like Nathan to think that because he was the star player, he could do whatever he wanted.

"Haven't seen him, sorry Coach." Lucas said as he moved down the table, seating himself next to Brooke.

Lucas turned to Haley, who was now sitting in front of him. "You seen him?"

"Me?" Haley questioned, feeling her heartbeat begin to race. "Why would I have seen him?"

"Yeah, I guess." Lucas smiled. "Anyway, I was thinking later on after we all finish practise, we could go out? I think everybody is going to this club that James found."

"Sounds fun." Brooke replied enthusiastically, her eyes fixated on Lucas. Lucas smiled at her in return.

"Good. That's at least one excited response." Lucas said, throwing his arm around Brooke's shoulder.

"I suppose I'll go." Peyton said without any eagerness or disinterest. "If Haley goes too."

Haley's eyes flashed over to Peyton. "Uh, yeah I don't know guys..."

"Haaaaley!" Brooke whined. "No! Please, you have to come!"

Haley squirmed. It wasn't what she felt like doing at all.

"Well..." Haley began, ready to gently let Brooke down.

"Wasn't he wearing those clothes last night?" Brooke cut Haley off, eyeing off somebody behind her.

Haley turned to see Nathan walking across the breakfast room, dressed in the same white shirt that she had torn off his last night.

"Trust Nathan." Peyton said, rolling her eyes.

Haley gulped. Was he going to look at her? She knew he knew she was there. He _always_ knew. But his eyes weren't connecting with her side of the room. He was avoiding her. Haley could _always _tell when he was doing that. Not that it was hard to notice, as it seemed to be the only thing he did these days.

"Good to see that you've graced us with your presence Scott." Coach K said sarcastically.

Nathan nodded at the coach, choosing to ignore his sarcasm and act as though he was being serious. Coach K didn't like it.

"Ten extra laps of the court at practise for you Scott. You better get there early." The coach said in an aggravated huff.

Nathan shrugged. He didn't care. Ten laps was like a walk in the park for him.

"So Nate," Sarah lent across the table to Nathan. "Everybody is going to this club that James found for us tonight, you in?"

"Of course he's in." James butted in. "We're going to find ourselves some fine ladies tonight, aren't we Scott?"

Nathan nodded.

"Sounds good." He said without smiling.

Haley felt her heart drop a fraction. She then grabbed hold of herself and shook the feeling off. She saw Cam waving at her from the other end of the table. She smiled at him and waved back. Suddenly she felt awful. They weren't going out, but she knew she had done the wrong thing by him and she hadn't even thought about it. She needed to make it up to him. He was so good to her.

"You know what Brooke?" Haley said, grabbing the attention of the brunette across from her while eyeing Cam. "Tonight sounds awesome. I'll be there."

"Yay!" Brooke squealed in delight, high fiving Lucas.

Lucas laughed. He forgot how funny she was. He needed some of that back in his life.

Haley got out of her seat. "I'll be right back."

She walked directly past Nathan, conscious not to look at him. If he wanted to be a jerk, he could be a jerk. She wasn't going to sit around and hurt some innocent boy and herself by letting him know that he affected her.

"Cam!" She greeted the blonde boy cheerfully.

"Haley." Cam replied with a smile. "Missed you last night."

"I know, I'm sorry about all that." Haley said, as she sat herself down in his lap.

"What are you talking about?" Cam asked her, wrapping his arm around her waist. "It's not like it was your fault. Besides, there's always tonight right?"

Haley smiled. "Of course there is. You going to this club thing?"

"Yeah, I was thinking I would but if you'd rather stay here..." Cam trailed off.

"No! It sounds good to me. We can make up for lost time." Haley replied, reassuring him. "I feel like I haven't spent time with you in ages."

"I know what you mean." Cam replied. "It hasn't even been a week!"

Haley laughed. She honestly liked Cam. He was fun and sweet and he treated her so well. He didn't yell at her or call her names or kiss her while he was dripping wet in a hotel room out of nowhere. The boy who did do those things to her was sitting further down the table, pretending not to listen to their conversation.

"Well after practise, I'll get ready and swing by your door." Haley said to Cam. "Or, I guess, _our_ door."

Cam smiled. "Yeah, sounds good."

Haley smiled back. _You're happy about this. You're happy about this._

She got up out of Cam's lap and walked back past Nathan again. Even though she made sure she didn't look at him or show any expressions of unease, it didn't save Haley from having flashbacks of last night as she walked by him.

_Nathan slid his finger across the smooth skin on her back as he kissed her, before realising she wasn't responding anymore. He lifted himself up, looking down at her face to see what was going on._

"_I'm sorry." Haley said, pushing her hand into his bare chest and forcing him off her. "We can't."_

_Nathan felt a weight drop in his stomach but instead of showing his disappointment he resorted to anger._

"_Whatever." He said roughly, standing up and picking his shirt up off the floor."Since Gigi wasn't here I thought this would be my only chance of getting any action tonight."_

_Nathan pulled his shirt over his head and walked towards the door. Haley felt his words rip through her. She knew they weren't entirely true, but she couldn't help but doubt herself._

"_Who knew, even you have standards." Nathan spat out before slamming the door to the hotel room shut, leaving his stuff behind._

_Haley felt the tears well up in her eyes. He just couldn't let it go._

"Tired, Tutor Girl?" Brooke asked as they walked out of the hotel gym.

Haley wiped the sweat off her forehead. "No, it's more that I just feel disgusting."

"I know what you mean." Peyton said beside her, holding her water bottle to her flushed cheeks.

They had been practising the routine for tomorrow's game for four hours straight and now Jessica had finally let them leave.

"I'm just looking forward to having a long, relaxing bath." Haley said, smiling at the thought.

"In what room though?" Peyton asked. "What's happening with all of that? Do we go to the ones we were in last night now or are we switching straight away? If so, nobody knows the right rooms to go to."

Haley frowned. She hadn't thought about that.

"Oh, Gigi said that we'll change when we get back from the club tonight because they need to figure out what list they are going to give everybody or something." Brooke interjected. "So go to your room from last night."

Haley nodded. _Good, that means I can just go to the room I was in with Jake. Seeing as that was my room anyway._

They got to the elevator with Haley and Peyton getting off at the second floor while Brooke rode on up to the third.

As she walked down the corridor to Room 230 with Peyton, it occurred to Haley that all her things were still in Nathan's room.

"Crap." Haley said out loud.

"What?" Peyton asked.

"Uh, I left my stuff in the other room and I don't have a key." Haley said.

"Oh." Peyton said. "Well who were you in the room with? I'm sure whoever the girl in there was would let you in to get your stuff."

"I wasn't with anybody, remember?" Haley said.

"Oh yeah, how annoying." Peyton replied. "Well, come with me and I'll give you a singlet and shorts to change into and then you can go up to Brooke's room and borrow one of the twenty dresses she brought with her."  
"Thanks, Peyton." Haley said with a smile.

After putting aside the top and shorts Peyton had given her, Haley turned the taps of the bath on and put her hand under the running water until she felt it turn searing hot. She loved hot baths. She put the plug in the hole and added the hotels supplied bubble bath to the water as it rose.

As she waited for the bath to fill up, Haley removed her Duke cheerleading jacket. She looked at herself in the mirror, staring at the bare skin present between the top of her skirt and the bottom of her cheerleading top. Quickly, Haley spun around to check her lower back and sighed in relief.

_All that sweating didn't rub it off._

Haley grabbed a hand towel resting next to the sink and quickly wet it under the tap. She watched in the mirror as the white hand towel quickly turned to a light shade of brown as she wiped it across her lower back. Before her eye's, Haley saw the number '2' come into view quickly followed by the number '3'. She put the make-up covered hand towel down and looked at her tattoo in the mirror for a moment longer. Nobody knew that she still had it. Especially not the person she had gotten it for.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Haley struggled to get the room key out of her jean shorts pocket as she tried to balance the other objects in her hands. She was holding the dress of Brooke's she had borrowed and a pair of nude heels to match, as well as a bag full of make-up and accessories. Once she finally figured out a position in which the things in her hand wouldn't fall, she awkwardly slipped her room key into the slot in the door and pushed her way in.

"Hello?" Came a deep voice from within the room. "Who's that?"

"Oh, Jake. It's Haley." Haley replied, forgetting that Jake wouldn't be expecting her to come back. "Sorry, do you need to come back later?"

Jake jogged up to the door to meet her. "No, don't worry. Come in."

"Thanks." Haley said as Jake helped her rest some of the things she was carrying on the ground.

"I just thought I'd come back here to get ready for tonight as it is our room until we switch again. Sorry, I forgot to ask you." Haley explained to Jake.

"No need to ask! It's your room as well." Jake replied with a smile. "I'm really sorry about last night by the way, I didn't mean for you to be the one to get kicked out."

"Thanks Jake, but don't be sorry." Haley returned the smile. "Okay, well if you're not using the bathroom do you mind if I do?"

"Go for it." Jake replied. "I've already had my shower and gotten dressed for the night. I'm all set."

Haley groaned and rolled her eyes simultaneously. "Eugh. That's so unfair. Boys have it so easy."

She only got a laugh in reply from Jake before she shut the bathroom door.

About two hours later, Haley had finally finished making herself up and was sitting on the bed with Jake watching some really bad movie that they were making fun of.

"Seriously? They think that looks real?" Haley laughed as she watched a dinosaur rip off a person's head with extremely bad editing.

"All I can say is I'm glad we are living in the twenty first century now." Jake laughed in response.

They heard a knock on the door.

"Haaaley! Ready for a night on the mean streets of DC!" Brooke muffled, excited voice came from behind the door.

Haley laughed as she swung it open. "Since when are the streets of DC mean?"

"Well, as soon as Brooke arrives in a place nothing stays nice." Peyton sarcastically replied with a grin.

"Hey!" Brooke slapped Peyton on the arm before eyeing up Haley. "Tutor girl, you look bitchin'!"

"Brooke, please don't say bitchin'." Peyton said with a look of pain.

"Why not?" Brooke asked. "Cut off the last syllable and it's the only word on earth that describes you!"

Peyton rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress her laugh. "You do look amazing though, Haley."

"Thanks." Haley smiled. "You guys too."

As always, Peyton and Brooke looked immaculate. Haley envied them for that and always felt like she didn't fit in when she'd walk into places with them. She never saw herself as half as beautiful as they were. Brooke had her hair down and was in a short blue dress that to Haley's surprise wasn't nearly as tight as the ones she usually wore. Peyton was in a figure hugging green number that accentuated her ridiculously long legs.

"It's a pity we aren't going to a costume party." Brooke remarked. "We could have gone together as Mother Nature in our colours. Me as the sea in my blue, Peyton as the trees and grass in green and Haley as the earth and sand in nude."

"Thank god we aren't going to a costume party." Peyton retorted. "Because that would have been highly embarrassing."

"Oh, shut up." Brooke responded before walking into the hotel room. "Hey Jake."

"Hey Brooke." Jake replied politely. "Hey Peyton."

"Hey." Peyton smiled.

"So," Brooke began as she bounced down on the bed. "What's happening again?"

"I'm meeting Cam at his room and we're going from there." Haley replied. "Are we all going in a bus together or what?"

"No, you have to make your own way there." Jake answered. "Gigi said something about it being too obvious that we were going to a club if we all went together, so just taxi's I think."

"Okay, Peyton we are going to have to go and find a couple of guys off the team who can pay for our taxi ride for us." Brooke said with a look of determination, getting up from the bed.

"Wait, no." Haley stopped her. "Just come with me and Cam."

"Tutor Girl." Brooke said. "No, you guys should have _alone _time. Besides, if we ride with you we'll have to pay our share!"

Peyton laughed and gave Haley a sympathetic look as Brooke dragged her out the door. "Sorry."

Haley gave her a small smile in return and waved them goodbye.

"See you there, Tutor Girl!" Brooke yelled before the door slammed.

Haley stared at the door for a moment before a thought popped into her head.

"Do you want to come with us?" Haley asked, turning to Jake.

"Oh, I don't want to get in the way..."Jake said.

"No, please. You won't." Haley gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll go get Cam now. We can just meet out the front. I'll text you."

"Sounds good." Jake grinned. "Thanks Haley."

"No problem."

"Just a second!" Haley heard Cam's voice yell from within the room.

A moment later, the blonde boy opened the door with a wide grin.

"Hey." He said, looking her up and down. "You look great."

"Thank you." Haley smiled. "So do you."

Cam was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a fitted blue shirt with his blonde hair gelled slightly. He looked good. Haley smiled to herself.

"You ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah, definitely." Cam replied grabbing his phone and wallet off the bench before returning to the door. "Let's go."

"Jake's going to ride in the taxi with us. He's waiting downstairs. Hope you don't mind." Haley said, noticing Cam's face falling slightly before his mouth returning to a grin.

"That's fine." He replied, resting his hand on her hip as he guided her into the lift. "I'm looking forward to tonight."

"Yeah." Haley replied, trying to muster up her enthusiasm. "Me too."

The music blaring from within the club could be heard out on the street. Haley, Cam and Jake had been waiting in line for at least half an hour but were finally nearing the entrance to the nightclub. Haley searched the line for Brooke and Peyton, but the only familiar faces she saw were a few of those from the basketball team and Jessica, the head cheerleader.

"Haley, turn around." Cam said. "We're at the front."

Haley whipped her head around, relieved to finally be at the front of the line. The moment the bouncer laid his eyes on her he nodded.

"Yep, you can go in." The bouncer moved out of the way to let her through without bothering to check for her ID, but stopped Cam and Jake. "Not you two."

"They're with me." Haley replied.

The bouncer looked momentarily at Haley before turning back to the boys. "Alright, but let me see your ID's."

Cam and Jake immediately had their fake ID's in front of the bouncer's face. He stared at them questioningly for a moment before begrudgingly moving aside.

"Alright, you can go in."

"Thanks." Cam replied.

Haley smiled at him as he took her hand as they entered the club. Nathan never had the courtesy to thank people for doing minor things for him.

As soon as they entered, Haley immediately caught sight of Brooke on the dance floor in her navy dress, dancing with some random guy.

"Drinks?" Cam asked her.

"Sure." Haley replied, scanning the room while he went off to get them something. Jake quickly disappeared into the masses of people.

A familiar scent of cologne filled Haley's nose. She looked to her right, in the direction the smell was coming from, to see Nathan glide past with his usual entourage lagging behind him. Haley mentally cursed.

_Don't notice him, Haley. But God, does he have to make it so difficult for me not to look at him?_

In typical Nathan Scott style, he looked flawless. Yet, Haley knew it would have taken him exactly fifteen seconds to get ready.

_God, he's frustrating._

She tried not to dwell on the fact that he had walked right by without even noticing her.

"Here you go." Cam grinned as he handed her a pink cocktail. He spotted Nathan and his cronies.

"Hey look, the others are here."

"Yeah." Haley feigned a smile. _Please God, no._

To Haley's dismay, Cam took her hand and led her in the direction of the group.

Lucas was first to notice them. "Cam, Haley! You made it."

Haley smiled at Lucas as he pulled her in for a hug. She took the chance to momentarily glance at Nathan, who had his back turned to the group. He had still failed to notice her. Haley felt a twinge in her stomach. She peered behind him to see him talking to a group of girls. Another twinge.

Lucas and Haley withdrew from their hug, but Lucas kept his arm around her shoulder. It was like he always knew when something was bothering her; sometimes he even did it subconsciously. Either way, Haley was grateful.

"You ready for the game tomorrow?" Haley asked Lucas, but got a response from the entire group.

"You know it!"

"They don't stand a chance."

"Oh yeah!"

Haley laughed.

"I'm sure your pre-game cheer will get us in the mood." Cam winked at her and the boys hooted and nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes I think I play basketball just for the cheerleaders." Simon quipped.

In the midst of the laughter, Haley couldn't help but look back towards Nathan. Instantly, she felt her stomach give in and the twinge from before turned into a violent rush of pain. And anger. And jealousy. It was that same feeling Haley had experienced almost a year ago in the midst of one of Tree Hill High's infamous parties. It consumed her completely, and then infuriated her.

Releasing herself from Lucas's hold, Haley took hold of Cam's hand. It was the only thing she could think of to make herself feel better. She had done the same thing the last time she saw Nathan making out with another girl.

Without hesitating, Haley put her hand behind Cam's neck and pulled him in for a searing kiss. It was definitely the best one she'd ever given him. She needed it to be.

The boys around them started hooting and whistling.

"Oh, come on." James whined. "That's not fair. Why can't that ever happen to me?"

Nathan removed himself from the girls face. Looking back at her, he hardly even noticed what she looked like. He spun around at the sound of the guys whistling.

"What the hell's happening?" He asked as he turned.

Before anyone could say anything, he found the answer for himself. There she was. Blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, nude coloured dress, high heels, sucking the face of his teammate. His teammate who if he didn't hate him before, he now loathed with everything in him. She _knew _how mad this would make him. She was doing it on purpose.

Nathan purposely let the beer he was holding in his hand slip out and fall to the ground. The glass bottle shattered with a deafening noise as it collided with the floor. Everyone immediately stopped laughing and turned their heads Nathan's way. Haley and Cam stopped kissing and looked over too. Before Haley knew it, Nathan was pushing past her with his eyes ablaze.

She knew he cared.

"What the hell?" Haley heard one of the guys ask as Nathan stormed away.

"He's probably just mad he dropped his beer."

A few others nodded in agreement, including Cam. But Haley knew that was far from the real reason he had stormed off to be alone. _Stop it, Haley. You don't care._

Nathan quickly got himself another beer at the bar then disappeared into a dark hallway of the club. He roughly screwed the lid off the beer and chugged down a massive gulp. He leant the back of his head against the wall as he tried to calm himself down. He tried to clear his head, help him not think about it. But it only made him think about the year earlier.

_Nathan walked through the masses of people occupying his beach house, looking for a girl who could help solve his problems. He had to show Haley he was over it and he didn't care. He had to convince himself of it too._

_Finally, he spotted a familiar redhead near the staircase. _Perfect, _he thought. Rachel Gatina. _Haley absolutely hates her and she's always wanted me.

_Nathan walked up to her confidently and gave her his signature smirk._

"_It's your lucky night Gatina." Nathan said as the redhead eyed him._

"_And why's that?" Rachel replied, leaning in to him._

"_You finally get a taste of what you've been begging for over the past year." He replied. Rachel's eyes widened and then she smirked. As much as she wanted this, she never expected him to go for it._

"_I knew you wouldn't be able to resist." _

_She quickly latched her lips onto his while the people around them stared in shock. Nobody had been expecting that. Girls threw dirty looks their way. Even guys thought it was wrong. The party fell silent as everybody watched what they thought to be impossible occurring._

_Across the room, her brown eyes caught sight of them. Her stomach lurched and she tried to pinch herself. This had to be a dream. No, it was actually happening. Haley felt the tears well up in her eyes and suddenly felt the weight of everybody staring at her, waiting for what her reaction would be. She quickly blinked the tears away and changed her shocked expression to one that was a mix of anger and determination. She waited silently until she saw Nathan pull away from Rachel. She then quickly searched the room for somebody who Nathan hated. It had to be someone he hated more than she hated Rachel, if that were possible. She had to show him just how much she didn't care. He thought she was playing, but he was wrong._

_It was then she spotted Damien West standing by the bathroom door._

Perfect.


End file.
